


The Lost & the Found

by AJ (anna_panda)



Series: Map to the Heart [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Angst, Awkwardness, Bokuto wants to be an owl, Comedy, Comfort, Dark, Dense Hinata & Kageyama, F/F, Fluff, Gen, HOOT HOOT, Hinata Shouyou & Kozume Kenma Friendship, Implied Haiba Lev/Yaku Morisuke, Long-Suffering Sawamura Daichi, Lots of Fantastic Beasts, Love Confessions, M/M, Romance, Sleepy Kenma, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-15
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-01-28 21:57:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 103,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12616440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anna_panda/pseuds/AJ
Summary: "Being lost is worth the being found."Hinata thinks he finally knows his way around the castle, Kenma knows he definitely doesn't and it's a miracle Iwaizumi hasn't thrown Oikawa off the Astronomy Tower yet. Just another year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry.





	1. Better Early Than Late

After fifteen minutes of silently standing there, the train let out a high-pitched whistle and Hinata let out an even higher pitched shriek that made both his mother and little sister nearly jump out of their skins.

“Shouyou please,” his mother rubbed her ears and gave her son a long suffering look. 

Hinata looked abashed and could only be grateful he was at the station early and so no one had heard him. Well, almost no one.

“Shouyou you’re such a wimp!” his little sister laughed and Hinata looked away, his face red.

“I was just surprised.”

His little sister giggled some more before letting out a large yawn and pulled at their mother’s skirt.

“How much longer do we have to wait?”

“Just a little longer sweetie." 

“How much longer?” Natsu pulled harder and their mother gently moved her hand away.

“Don’t you want to play with your brother? You won’t be seeing him for a while." 

“I know,” an evil grin spread across Natsu’s face and she looked at Hinata smugly, who, as he was six years older than her and naturally much more mature, stuck his tongue out at her in response.

“Let’s go sit down, shall we?” Their mother sighed and ushered her two children to a bench, pushing Hinata’s trunk and other items on the trolley in front of her.

She checked her watch and was glad to see there was only 20 minutes until the train departed. It wasn’t like she wanted to see her son leave, but she had been waiting with the two of them for an hour already, and everyone was beginning to feel a little highly strung.

“Why did we get here so early?” Natsu whined swinging her legs out in front of her childishly, as Hinata ducked his head and looked at their mum.

“We didn’t want to miss the train sweetheart.”

Natsu snorted but didn’t say anything as Hinata caught his mother’s wink. His little sister would never let him hear the end of it if she knew he’d missed already missed the train twice the previous years. And there was no way he was missing it again, his friends already found it hilarious, he’d missed it third and fourth year. He almost groaned as he remembered watching the train slowly move away from him, while there was nothing he could do but watch his friends sail on past, some panicked, some waving, most laughing. But not this time! This time he'd convinced his mother to get him there over an hour early, so there was not even the possibility that he would miss the train. And here he was.

"Should I put my trunk on?" he asked as he eyed the wall where people were beginning to appear.

"Let's double check you've got everything first, "his mother smiled gently at him, all too aware of her son's somewhat careless nature. "Natsu do you want to help your brother? You'll be doing this yourself next year."

His little sister brightened, having been slumped on the bench, most likely cursing her brother in her head and immediately pulled the list of bits and bods Hinata needed for his fifth year. She stood up, still on the bench, still not quite reaching their mother's height but, much to Hinata's chagrin she was just a little bit taller than him. Why was it than everybody but him was growing taller? He shook his head, he was going to get taller eventually! Natsu cleared her throat and seemed to realise Hinata was still sitting on the bench.

"Go check you've got everything!" she frowned at him and pointed at his trolley, looking very much like a mini-general giving orders to her one man army.   

Hinata obliged her with a chuckled 'sorry' and a bright smile on his face. He always missed his sister when he went to Hogwarts, she was rather annoying at times, but she was still his little sister.

"Ready!" he stood straighter and even raised his hand up in salute.

Natsu giggled before beginning to read of the list. 

"The Standard Book of Spells Grade 5 by Miranda..." Natsu hesitated, "Goshwank?"

Hinata tried to unsuccessfully cover his snort and their mother immediately reprimanded him.

 "What?" Natsu looked upset and their mother smiled at her.

 "It's Goshawk, sweetie."

Natsu scowled and looked back at the list, opening her mouth to start again but their mother quickly cut in.

 "His books are all in his trunk Natsu, how about we check he's got everything else he needs?"

 Natsu nodded as her older brother managed to compose himself and turned to glare at him.

 "Shouyou!"

 "Yes m'am!"

 "Do you have!" she paused to take a deep breath. "Robes?!"

 "Yes!"

 "Gloves?!"

 "Yes!"

 "Hat?!"

 "Yes!"

 "Cloak?!"

 "Yes!"

 "Wand?!"

 "Yes!"

 "Cauldron?!"

 "Yes!"

Their mother covered her face as more and more people began to arrive and give her two chanting children extremely shocked, and sometimes a little scared looks. For witches and wizards, they sure didn't take well to things being out the ordinary. But of course, she didn't stop them, this was a ritual, which usually they would do at home, before she would drop Hinata off at King's Cross and he would find his way to the platform like he'd been doing for the past three year. However, seeing as out of those three, only once had he actually managed to get to Hogwarts via the train, she had decided perhaps it was for the best she accompany him all the way. He had certainly not disagreed.

 Her two gingers having calmed down, and Hinata seemingly having satisfied his little sister's check, their mother smiled at the both of them.

 "We'll best be off soon Shouyou," She checked her watch to make sure she still had enough time to drop Natsu off at her own school before going to work. "I'm sorry I can't see you off."

 Hinata shook his head, smiling brightly, "it's fine! It's fine!"

 More people had started milling around, and the platform was distinctly noisier. He was pretty sure his own friends would be arriving soon. His sister, then his mother, gave him a hug, with the latter pressing a kiss to his forehead before helping him get his trunk on the train, hugging him again and quickly rushing off to catch their own train. Hinata stretched his limbs and turned back to his trolley. All that was left on it was the square cage, of which its inhabitant had hidden itself away in the covered corner, probably not appreciating the bustling noise of the station.

 “Hinata!”

 The boy looked up at the sound of his name, and immediately beamed when he caught sight of the shaved head that was weaving its way through the crowd towards him.

 “Tanaka!”

 “Hinata!” The older boy burst through the crowd, leaping forward, his arms extended towards his friend, ready to envelope him in a hug that would make up for all their missed time.

Unfortunately Hinata had been aiming to do pretty much the same thing, and so the two ended crashing together, a bundle of limbs and laughter as they rolled around the station platform. Scratches and bruises were ignored as Tanaka stood up and pulled Hinata up with him.

 “How was your holiday?” Hinata asked, eyes shining in anticipation; Tanaka’s holidays always seemed full of excitement, especially compared to his own, which was usually spent at his grandmother’s.

 Tanaka cackled, always ready to impart the Tales of Tanaka upon his young comrade but was interrupted by an all too familiar roar.

 “Nishinoya!!!”

 Tanaka and Hinata looked at each other and grinned, and just a few seconds later yet another boy burst through the crowd, a pixie flitting around above his head.

 “Ryu! Hinata!” Nishinoya sprinted over to the two, the pixie diving down and landing on his shoulder as he made to jump into the train. “Let’s go! Daichi’s after me!” 

The short Gryffindor bounded onto the train and Hinata could hear him stomping down the carriages.

“You two!”

Tanaka and Hinata both jumped as their head boy pushed his way through the crowd, obviously ticked off.

“Captain!” Tanaka grinned at him and opened his arms wide. “How’ve you been?”

“Where’s Nishinoya?” Tanaka only shrugged dramatically for a response, only causing Daichi to raise a very disbelieving eyebrow. 

“What’s he done?” Hinata asked, trying (and failing) not to look too curious. 

“Set off dungbombs in the Slytherin carriages,” Daichi groaned. “School hasn’t even started yet, why couldn’t he have waited until later? Kuroo’s never gonna let me hear the end of it.”

Tanaka and Hinata were both trying very hard not to laugh and so decided it was best to leave the Seventh year brooding in his annoyance. Hinata grabbed the cage of his rabbit, and hopped on the train after Tanaka.

They trailed around, looking for the carriage Nishinoya had hidden himself in. Finally they found him, Tanaka and Nishinoya immediately greeting each other with very excited whoops and fistbumps. Hinata put his cage down on the seat and slumped down next to it, the two older boys sitting opposite him.

“Hinata,” Nishinoya suddenly smirked, "this is a very exciting time for you.”

 Hinata frowned, "it is?”

Tanaka nodded, "very very important.”

Hinata’s frowned deepened, he supposed the fifth year was known for being rather hellish. It was the year students took their OWLs after all.

 “You actually managed to catch the train!” Nishinoya yelled and Tanaka let out a cheer.

Hinata immediately covered his face with his hands as the two immediately dissolved into loud laughter. He mumbled incoherently from behind his fingers, but was too happy to actually say anything back. This was what he had missed these past two years, just spending time with his friends, messing around, even if they were totally making an idiot of him. He was saved from further embarrassment when the door slid open and a shy voice asked.

“Is there any room?”

Hinata looked up, and a smile spread across his face.

“Yamaguchi! I missed you!”

The shy Gryffindor smiled, slid the door closed behind him, and went to sit next to Hinata who quickly moved up to make room for him.

“I heard some of the Slytherins had to move to Ravenclaw carriages.”

The Hogwarts Express wasn’t technically segregated into houses, but house loyalty and rivalry was strong meant for the most part, each house stayed in their own sections of the train.

Nishinoya immediately grinned, "is that so?" 

Yamaguchi nodded, “Daichi is still mad.”

 The grin faded a little.

“I can’t believe you did that!” Hinata ignored the last part of what Yamaguchi had said and looked at Nishinoya with eyes shining with admiration.

The grin immediately came back and Nishinoya rubbed his nose and Tanaka laughed happily next to him.

“This year is gonna be fun,” he ascertained and leaned forward, indicating the other three in the carriage do the same. 

They obliged him and Tanaka began to whisper.

“My sister-”

“Why are we whispering?” Nishinoya interrupted quietly.

 "Because it’s super secret and cool. My sister’s started working at this joke store in the city and she’s got all this cool new exclusive Zonko’s stuff for free. And guess who she gave it to?” 

Three pairs of eyes widened.

 “You have a sister?” Yamaguchi asked but was shut down by the excitement of the others in the carriage.

“Exclusive?” Hinata was just about bouncing off his seat. 

“Zonkos?!” Nishinoya did jump out his seat, and hit his head against the train ceiling, slumping back into the cushion with a loud wince.

Tanaka ignored him and nodded at Yamaguchi and Hinata. Nishinoya slowly straightened, grumbling about the bump forming on the top of his head, but too excited to stay down for long. Hinata was already imagining what kind of things Tanaka was talking about, he loved Zonko’s Joke Shop and had quite a few of stuff from there himself, but Nishinoya and Tanaka always seemed to know the perfect way to use them. And this stuff was apparently _exclusive_. 

“Like I said,” Tanaka grinned and high fived Nishinoya, "this year is gonna be very very fun.”

 

______________________________________________________________

 

“I heard about what happened.”

“So you know then?”

“My deepest condolences.”

Bokuto hooted sadly in response, “hootbreaking.” 

Akaashi hadn’t been particularly bothered by the legendary Nishinoya and Tanaka’s jokes up until this point. If he was honest, there was even some he’d found rather amusing. However he was quickly beginning to wondering if he should join the head boy in his man hunt of the two; because that stunt they’d pulled, Akaashi was now sitting with not only Bokuto, who’d ridden the train with ever since his third year, but also Kuroo Tetsurou.

Dealing with Bokuto was hard enough, but dealing with Bokuto and Kuroo was nigh impossible.

“Akaashi,” Bokuto looked melancholically at his friend, were those tears in his eyes. “It was so sad.”

“Really.”

“Yes!” The older boy dramatically proclaimed.

“Bit insensitive of you not to take it seriously Akaashi,” Kuroo said with a wave of his hand.

“Yes, yes,” Bokuto nodded, “hoorrendous." 

Akaashi rolled his eyes but didn’t grace the two with an answer. It was always hard to tell when Kuroo was taking things seriously, but Bokuto, he knew, couldn’t be more grave. The latter threw himself dramatically down onto his chair, Akaashi gracefully dodging the legs that were unceremoniously thrown into the air, and then shoving them off when they landed on his lap.

“He’s going to hate me,” Bokuto moaned and Kuroo shook his head sadly.

“Absolutely loathe.” 

“Detest.”

“Abhor.”

Bokuto let out a loud wail and Akaashi scowled at him.

“You’ll disturb the other kids.”

“Akaashi how could I have done this to him? My only true friend." 

Kuroo scowled, lifted his legs and dropped them on Bokuto’s stomach.

“Gah!” Bokuto coughed violently and immediately sat up, glaring. “What’d ya do that for?”

“For hurting my feelings.”

“I hurt your feelings?! You hurt me! My _BODY_ bro, your feelings are irrelevant.” 

"I'm surprised you even know that words means," Kuroo quipped.

“You left your ‘only true friend’ on the train platform,” Akaashi cut in before Bokuto could engage in a full on rant about his ‘beautiful body’ which would naturally be followed by Kuroo having to discuss his own and Akaashi didn’t feel like losing his breakfast quite so early in the morning.

“Eggberrrrt!!!” Bokuto yowled and Kuroo started cackling, although he did have the decency to hide it behind his hand.

Although bringing up the fact Bokuto had left his great grey owl on the platform might not have been the best solution to that problem.

The door carriage slid open and a girl with reddish brown hair popped her head, looking a little worried, "is everything okay?”

Akaashi let out long suffering sigh as her eyes widened in understanding when she saw Bokuto blubbering, having fully descended into what Akaashi liked to call his ‘emo mode’, curled in the corner of the of the carriage. Kuroo was slowly shaking his head, sorrowful expression on his face, his earlier amusement still a little evident.

“I heard about…” her lips twitched slightly, “Eggbert.”

Kuroo barely managed to stop his snort and Bokuto lifted his head slightly to peer over his shoulder mournfully.

 “It’s alright Yukie. He’s just never going to hoot to me again. I’ll have to spend the rest of my days hootless. And eggless.”

“Pretty sure you’re already eggless bro. Unless you’ve got something you’ve been hiding from us,” Kuroo had put his legs up in the space between Bokuto and Akaashi, looking the perfect smug Slytherin.  

 “I’ll get you something from the trolley,” said Shirofuku kindly and looked at Akaashi, Bokuto had dragged him around enough for him to a familiar face to her. “What about you Akaashi?”

He shook his head politely. “That’s alright thanks Shirofuku.”

She turned around and disappeared down the train.

“Huh,” Kuroo looked a little offended. “I wanted something.”

“Don’t mooch off other people,” Akaashi said.

Kuroo raised an eyebrow and Akaashi let out another sigh. He was in ‘deal with Bokuto mode’, which was very hard to get out off. At least Kuroo didn’t seem to mind. They weren’t particularly close, Akaashi wasn’t even sure he could call them friends. Acquaintances through mutuals perhaps. From what Akaashi had heard from Daichi though, Kuroo was just as bad as Bokuto when it came to common sense.

 He did not envy the head boy.

“Come on Bokuto,” he tapped the elder’s shoulder, as Kuroo pulled his legs back, instead laying them across his own chair and leaning back against the window. “Get up.”

“Just leave me. I deserve death. When we get to Hogwarts leave me on the train. I deserve to be left here, all alone and cold and in the dark.”

 “Bokuto.”

 “I’m such a terrible person. I’ll never be able to look into his beautiful eyes again.” 

“Bokuto.”

“I can never forgive myself. Not that I deserve to forgiven. Please leave me here Akaashi.”

“Bokuto. Everyone forgets their pets on the platform. You’re not the only one.” 

Kuroo nodded, “That Kageyama kid's done it twice already.”

Akaashi frowned, as far as he knew the Kageyama’s black crow was rarely separated from its shoulder, not that it mattered.

“They’ll send him to you as soon as they can.”

Bokuto shifted and turned to face Akaashi, his face had taken on that usual blank expression of ‘emo Bokuto’.

“Who’s they?" 

“The express staff,” Akaashi was pleased to see Shirofuku making her way back, arms full of sweets. “They’re probably used to it.”

“But Eggbert isn’t,” Bokuto lamented. 

“Eggbert is used to a lot worse,” said Kuroo, face schooled into a perfect neutral expression, but once again Akaashi chose against commenting on it. 

“Here you go Captain,” Shirofuku opened the door and smiling gave Bokuto a few chocolate frogs. “I know you said you didn’t want anything but I felt bad.” She handed Akaashi a box of Every Flavoured Beans and then fidgeted a bit before giving a few pumpkin pastries to Kuroo, slightly red in the face.

 “Thank you,” Kuroo smiled charmingly as she nodded her head.

“You’re welcome,” she said quickly before turning back to Bokuto. “Feel better soon Captain!”

With most of the sweets still safely in her arms, Yukie Shirofuku once again made her way down the carriage, ready to enjoy the delicious sweets she’d been looking forward to since she got on the train. While Bokuto wasn’t totally appeased, the chocolate frogs definitely helped with his mood, he was acting like a normal person. However, if you knew him well, as Akaashi unfortunately did, a quiet Bokuto was not a normal Bokuto. He was probably going to be like this until the fateful reunion. 

Akaashi shook his head to himself as Kuroo’s own pet, a midnight black cat jumped down from the overhead compartment and curled itself onto Kuroo’s lap. Bokuto stared dramatically out the window.

Bokuto and his owls: truly one of the great mysteries of this world.

 

______________________________________________________________

 

“Did you get a new broom?” Iwaizumi asked the boy sitting opposite him, everyone else in the carriage too intimidated to ask the question that had been on their minds since the explosive Quidditch semi-final between Gryffindor and Slytherin last year.

Maybe Kyoutani’s glare seemed blood freezingly terrifying to all the Gryffindor first years, and probably all the way up the sixth years, to Iwaizumi it was something akin to a pouty child whose demands for candy had been sternly turned down.

 “Yeah,” he said curtly and looked away.

Iwaizumi nodded, “good.”

Ushijima was finally returning to Quidditch after a four year break that had seen Gryffindor almost completely dominate the pitch. Of course, that had been until two years ago, whereupon new captains being chosen, the other Houses began putting up more of a fight. Regardless there was no doubt, this year, the Quidditch teams for the respective houses were the strongest they’d ever been. He eyed Kyoutani, as unnecessarily aggressive and surly the younger boy was, he was an excellent Quidditch player.

“Iwaizumi!” Someone snapped their fingers in front of his face and he immediately glared the culprit.

The brown haired girl immediately bowed her head and apologised, "sorry you just weren’t answering.”

“No,” Iwaizumi smiled and shook his head, for a second he’d thought she was someone else. “My fault.”

 “I was just wondering if you’d seen Daichi?”

Iwaizumi frowned. The last time he’d seen the head boy, he had been fuming and storming down the carriages looking for Nishinoya and Tanaka. It was always those two.

“He’s probably busy. Is something wrong?”

Misaki shook her head with a sheepish smile, “no, I was just going to ask about the sorting. Apparently there’s some older new students this year.”

Iwaizumi frowned, “older new students?”

“Maybe from different schools!” the sixth year prefect Ujiie butted in. “Hogwarts’ been kinda lame at picking up exchange students lately.”

 Misaki frowned, “Ujiie! Where’s your school spirit?”

 The girl raised an eyebrow, “I’m just saying.”

 “No one cares,” was Kyoutani’s input which Ujiie looked decidedly unimpressed with.

“Well no one asked you, Wolf boy.” 

“Huh?” Kyoutani glared at her but Iwaizumi interved.

“That’s enough.”

“Ujiie, be nice,” Misaki reprimanded and the younger girl looked a little chastened. “It’ll be really interesting to see people from other schools. And they’ll be sorted too. Maybe they play Quidditch!” 

She clapped her hands and turned to Iwaizumi, “you’re holding tryouts at the beginning of the year right? It’d be so cool to see international students play.”

“Like they’d play any different,” Kyoutani muttered.

Iwaizumi nodded, ignoring him, “yeah we’re holding tryouts second week probably. Daichi’ll probably have a captain’s meeting to sort it out.”

“That’ll put him in a good mood,” Ujiie said sarcastically. 

“Poor Daichi,” Misaki sighed. “It can’t be easy being head boy and captain.”

Iwaizumi personally agreed. And certainly didn’t help that it was Daichi’s own friends that made the job that much more difficult. It wasn’t like Nishinoya and Tanaka were mean-spirited, but they were known to blur the line between right and wrong if it involved getting some laughs. Gryffindor may have been winning the Quidditch Cup steadily, but it had been six years since they’d won the House cup. It had also been six years since the two troublemakers had been sorted into Gryffindor.

“I heard Hinata actually managed to catch the train this time,” Misaki changed the subject.

“Oh,” Ujiie pouted. “He could’ve broken Bokuto’s record if he’d missed it one more time." 

“You were counting?”

“I’ve honestly got nothing better to do.”

“You’re a prefect! You should be making sure everyone’s behaving! Wait, you should have helped them, not just watched them miss the train!" 

“What could I have done? There’s no helping those two.”

 Iwaizumi let the two girls talk and pondered these ‘new students’ Misaki had mentioned. If any of them were in fact any good at quidditch, their Chaser had recently graduated and they were in dire need of a new one. He thought back to last year’s tryout and how they’d found it impossible to find a reserve Chaser so they’d have to settle for three and hoped none of them would get injured. 

Yes, if this year’s Hogwarts turnout was anything like last year’s, he was really hoping the new kids were players.

 

______________________________________________________________

 

On the scale of scary people at Hogwarts, Yaku Morisuke was definitely not at the top. Neither however, was he totally at bottom. Yachi had seen him hex a entire group of Ravenclaws that had said something to do with his height and a gnome. That being said, he had been nothing but nice to her, so after that one incident that had shot him to the number 6 spot (Yachi didn’t think there was anyone that could steal Takanobu Aone, Ushijima Wakatoshi, Satari Tendo or Kuroo Testuro’s spots as the top 5 people to try to avoid looking in the eye or in the general vicinity of for fear for one’s life), he had been slowly descending.

He wasn’t totally off it yet though. 

“Ah Yachi,” he smiled when he opened the door to find it mostly empty. “I hope you don’t mind, everywhere else is a little snug.” 

She shook her head, “I-it’s fine.”

He sat down on the seat opposite her and his eyes immediately drifted to her lap. 

“What’s that?” he asked curiously.

Yachi jumped a little, not expecting him to make conversation and automatically followed his eyes to the two little balls of fur resting in her lap.

“O-oh. Well, these, these two, they’re my pets,” she blushed a little, she’d had the two guinea pigs since she was ten and when her Hogwarts letter had come she hadn’t wanted to leave them behind.

As far as she was aware cat, owl or toad was more of a guideline than anything else. 

Yaku looked on curiously, not judgemental and so Yachi continued.

 “Um, they’re guinea pigs. This one’s Butterscotch and this one’s Caramel,” she pointed at the golden coloured one first, then the orange and black one. 

“They’re cute,” Yaku said and Yachi smiled shyly.

“Do you want to hold one?”

“Will they mind?”

She shook her head, "they’re very tame. I’ve had them since I was little.”

She picked up Butterscotch and carefully put him on Yaku’s lap. Slowly the latter’s hand moved up and down, and Butterscotch started to try and crawl up his sleeve. Yaku and Yachi both laughed, the girl feeling more relaxed as Yaku put the guinea pig back on her lap after a few minutes of playing with him. 

“I think he liked you,” she said, smiling. 

Yaku grinned, “what’s not to like?” 

Yaku let out a little laugh and stroked her two pets, running her fingers over her soft fur as Yaku made more conversation. He was very good at keeping it going she noticed, unlike her, who was too shy to ask questions. He would always be able to get her talking, and be able to subtly divert away from anything that made her feel uncomfortable. 

“I’d show you my pet but…” Yaku looked away, his cheeks tinged a slight red as he finished the sentence under his breath.

 Yachi didn’t want to pry and decided she’d change to topic into something she was sure he’d be interested in.

“Are you looking forward to Quidditch this year?”

Like she thought, Yaku was more than happy to talk about Quidditch. Yachi didn’t know a whole lot about the sport, but she’d spent too much time with Hinata not to know the basics.

“You’re trying out?”

 “Current team members don’t have to try out," he paused. “Although if the captain thinks someone better than us has shown up, he might make us trial too.”

“Aren’t you worried?” Yachi asked, then suddenly wondered if that was rude, Yaku had been Hufflepuff’s Keeker for as long as she had been at Hogwarts.

 Yaku smiled a little, “not yet, but apparently some new students are coming, so we’ll have to wait and see. Although honestly I’m more worried there won’t be any chocolate pudding for dessert this year.”

“Woah Yaku, who’s the cutie you’re keeping all to yourself?” the door was slung open and Yachi jumped, almost knocking her precious guinea pigs off her lap.

“Kinnoshita,” Yaku greeted the sandy-haired boy and Yachi managed to stutter out a hello.

 “Just wondering if you’ve seen Rusty? Michiyama’s lost her again.”

Yaku shook his head, "no sorry, we’ll tell you if we see her.”

“Alright thanks man, see ya later.” Kinnoshita waved and slammed the door shut again.

“Rusty?” Yachi questioned after a few moments of silence.

“Michiyama’s cat. You know her? She’s one of the prefects. For Slytherin. And in the seventh year so you might not have seen her around at school. Maybe you’ve seen her on the pitch, she’s got short brown hair around here,” Yaku cupped his hands around his ears.

Yachi shook her head and Yaku shrugged, “oh well. Really seems to be the year for losing or leaving things behind huh? Bokuto hasn’t done his yearly running up and down the train to show his owl so we can only assume Eggbert’s dead or been left somewhere. I doubt the former seeing as he would probably have tried to invite the whole school to the funeral.”

 “At least, Hinata managed to catch the train,” said Yachi. “And the Captain did leave his owl on the station, I heard some people talking about it. They said he was upset.” 

Yaku shrugged a little, “he’s got Akaashi, who’ll probably ask us to cheer him up later.” 

Yachi looked out the window, Butterscotch and Caramel no longer sitting on her lap but sleeping on the seat next to her. There was a small smile on her face. Yachi knew some people doubted which house they’d been sorted into, she was pretty sure she remembered overhearing Yaku once saying he wasn’t sure why he was in Hufflepuff and lots of people always said Kageyama belonged in Slytherin. But not with Yachi. She loved her house and she knew, before she even put on the Hat, that Hufflepuff would be her house. She did still find Bokuto’s enthusiasm a little intimidating, and Kageyama’s constant disapproving scowl had always made her a little on edge, but she was used to it now, and it wouldn’t feel right without them.

 “Looks like we’re here,” Yaku stood up. “It was nice talking to you Yachi, and thanks for letting me stay.”

Yachi blushed, “I-t was really, really no problem and it was nice talking to you too!”

 She said all in one breath but Yaku didn’t seem to notice, or more likely he was nice and pretended not to.

“I better go find our dear captain,” Yaku waved at her and slipped out of Yachi carriage.

“Goodbye,” Yachi waved back.

After he had left she looked down at Butterscotch and Caramel.

“We’ll be here soon. Do you want to come with me or should I put you in your cage?”

The two, naturally, didn’t answer, although Caramel did twitch her nose.

“Here you decide,” Yachi held out her arms to the two of them, and, after some initial hesitation they both scurried up her sleeves, finding the special pockets Yachi’s mum had sown into her robes for them.

Yachi could feel them settling into and giggled.

 “I guess you’ll be coming with me then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just watched Fantastic Beasts and rediscovered my love for HP ;)


	2. New Arrivals

“Alright, listen up.”

The chatting continued, hundreds of students excitedly greeting one another again after weeks of being apart, and Professor Ukai scowled.

“Settle down!” he bellowed and immediately everyone shut their mouths, the first years staring up at him in the usual mixture of shock and terror of the younger years. Hinata tried not to giggle, even though only a few years ago, he had worn that exact same expression and stood in that very spot. The first years were quickly sorted, Hinata cheering for everyone but particularly the Gryffindors, while Tanaka, Nishinoya and Yamamoto howled exclusively for their own house.

“Professor Takeda wants to say a few words to you brats,” a short brunette man was turning red as the headmaster waved for him to take his place up front and Hinata waved excitedly.

“Professor!” Nishinoya and Tanaka immediately began whooping and yelling as the curly-haired teacher stood up, blushing at the racket the two were making.

“Hello everyone. I hope you’re all looking forward to the school year. Some of you may have heard we will be having some new students this year, but I don’t think you’ve heard why.”

The Hall became abuzz as students immediately began excitedly chatting to one another. Takeda continued, his quiet voice still able to carry across the Great Hall to Hinata’s ears.

“This year, Hogwarts will be hosting the Triwizard Tournament.”

“Yesssssssss!!!” Nishinoya was the first to speak, although ‘speak’ was an understatement.

His howl echoed across the Great Hall and was the catalyst for the roar of conversation that immediately followed it. The other houses were evidently excited, talking animatedly, but that paled in comparison to the Gryffindor table. However the Gryffindor table also had Tanaka, Nishinoya, Yamamoto and Hinata who were single handedly able to increase the volume of any room, of any size, by hundreds.

Tanaka and Nishinoya were both slapping the table repeatedly as they yelled their plans to enter, Yamamoto was screaming his own, while Daichi was trying to get all three of them to shut up. Iwaizumi seemed to be the only one not trying to imitate a velociraptor.

Hinata himself was cheering excitedly, bouncing off his seat. He wasn’t completely sure what the Triwizard Tournament was, but it sounded pretty exciting.

“The three of you! Sit down!” Daichi tried to lean over the table and grab their robes, but Nishinoya and Tanaka dodged and continued to cheer, the two of them standing up on the bench.

Yamato wasn’t so lucky, and was pulled roughly down, slamming back into his seat with a thud that made Hinata wince. He had also been dancing around on the bench, but could practically see the steam beginning to rise from the Daichi’s head and immediately sat down. No one wanted to properly piss off the head boy. Tanaka and Nishinoya on the other hand, hadn’t noticed and were still shrieking, even with the rest of the Hall gradually calming down.

“NISHINOYA! TANAKA!” the seething head boy hollered and their voices immediately died out.

“Both of you, shut up and sit down,” his voice was steely and the two younger students knew better than to try anything when he was like that.

“Yes sir," said Tanaka in small voice and immediately sat down, followed very quickly by Nishinoya, letting out a loud yelp as he banged the edge of the table with his knee in his haste to get down.

Professor Takeda, who had been waiting patiently for everyone to calm down let out a shy laugh and cleared his throat.

“I’m glad you are all excited, however there are some rules–”

This was immediately followed by groans, and a consequent silencing glare from Headmaster Ukai.

“I know but your safety comes first. So, there will be an age limit of 16 years old on those able to participate. If you wish to participate, and are under 18, you will also have to acquire permission from your parents or your legal guardian. The selection process for the champions will be revealed in a few days, so you have until then to think about whether you want to enter or not and get your parents permission.”

Hinata was dimly aware of the Hall once again bursting into noise but was too distracted by Tanaka slapping him across the back.

“We’re all entering aren’t we?!”

“Hell yeah!” Nishinoya pumped a fist and Daichi let out a sigh.

“I’m not sure I can,” Misaki said, a dejected look on her face.

“What? Why not?” Tanaka was stricken. “We can’t let a Slytherin be our champion! If everyone from Gryffindor who can enter does, it’ll be sure to be one of us.”

“Not everyone will want to enter,” said Daichi.

“Why not?!” Nishinoya was just as shocked as Tanaka.

“I have classes,” Misaki admitted.

“We all have classes,” Nishinoya dismissed.

“Classes I actually want to get good marks in. And NEWT exams are this year too, I don’t needed added stress.”

Hinata pursed his lips. He had his OWLs this year, but doing the Tournament would be so much more fun. He grinned eagerly.

“I’m going to enter!”

He immediately began to think about sending an owl back to his mother, he didn’t think she’d object, it didn’t sound particularly dangerous. If he could do Quidditch, then how bad could it be? He happily began tucking in to the food that had just appeared on the table, piling his plate high, not paying attention to the discussion around of him as he stuffed his face.

“I'm on the fence,” Iwaizumi said in between mouthfuls of chicken.

“That’s the spirit!” Tanaka beamed. “What about the head boy?”

Daichi hesitated and Nishinoya slammed his fist down on the table.

“Of course he’s entering!”

“Ah Daichi you’re putting your name in?” Misaki who had been talking to the girl next to her turned around and smiled brightly. “That’s great! I think you’d do well.”

“I haven’t–”

“Ah Daishi!” Hinata’s voice was muffled by the potatoes bulging in his cheeks. “Yoanueing?”

Daichi sighed, “don’t speak with your mouthful Hinata.”

With considerable effort, the younger boy swallowed and immediately leant forward, “you’re entering? That’s so cool! We’d definitely win if you were our champion!”

“What about me?” Tanaka dropped his fork halfway to his mouth, mashed potato splattering over his robes as he flexed his arms. “I reckon I’d destroy it!”

“Cheering in the crowd maybe,” Misaki giggled. “You couldn’t even use the summoning charm until last year.”

“Charms are for losers! I could do the Bat Bogey Hex by my third year!”

“Why would you need to do the summoning charm anyways?” Nishinoya banged on the table.

Hinata wilted, “I can’t do the summoning charm.”

Misaki immediately looked scandalised, “it’s okay sweetheart, like Noya said, why would you need it?”

Tanaka scowled, “you’re the one who brought it up.”

Iwaizumi cut in, “I think how you use your magic is more important than how much magic you know. Using your brain over your wand.”

Tanaka snorted and Nishinoya was trying hard not to giggle with Daichi glaring at the both of them.

“What?” Hinata looked at the two of them and back to Iwaizumi and then wailed. “I can’t use my brain either!”

“No brain and can’t use your wand properly,” Yamamoto sadly shook his head. “You will never find a girlfriend.”

Nishinoya and Tanaka began to howl with laughter. Misaki quickly served Hinata more potatoes as he stared down at his plate dejectedly and Iwaizumi reached over to pat Hinata’s shoulder. Out of the corner of his eye, the Gryffindor could see Daichi, who looked uncomfortably close to banging his head on the table.

“Hinata calm down,” Daichi rubbed his temples. “No one’s forcing you to enter.”

Hinata’s head immediately shot up, Misaki jerking her spoon back before mashed potato got all over his hair.

“But I want to!”

Daichi’s head fell against the table.

“I don’t understand you,” Misaki shook her head with a little laugh. “But it’s not a bad idea, the Triwizard Tournament doesn’t happen every day.”

Hinata shoved more potato in his mouth and nodded, slightly comforted by the fact that the seventh year prefect seemed to think it wasn’t a terrible idea even though Tanaka and Nishinoya were still cackling to themselves.

“I’ll ask my mum,” he said to himself, and reached for a piece of bread, but the food disappeared with a shimmer and a disappointed wail from Nishinoya.

“I wasn’t finished.”

“Before dessert,” Professor Takeda stood up again and the Hall quieted once again, curious as to what he could have to say now, "you may have heard that there are some new students this year.”

Hinata immediately began to crane his neck, looking around the room, and he noticed a door at the end of the teacher’s table opening and a few older-looking students being ushered through.

“Look! Look!” He grabbed Tanaka’s arm and pointed excitedly at them. “Look!”

Tanaka whooped excitedly and thumped Hinata’s back, “wweet!”

Professor Ukai Sr glared at the Gryffindor table and they settled down as Professor Takeda continued to talk.

“They will be here for the Tournament and for the time being, will be sorted into Houses.”

“What?” Nishinoya shrieked. “They’re for the Tournament?! They’re our competition!!”

“Yeah!” Tanaka would have stood up if it weren’t for Daichi’s warning glare, which Hinata had to admit, he was giving a lot of this evening.

The two continued grumbling to each other until Professor Takeda called the first student forward.

“Kiyoko Shimizu.”

They immediately shut their mouths and stared  at the table, their eyes glowing with admiration. Hinata was also gaping, for the student who had stepped forward was almost inhumanely gorgeous. Medium-length black hair framed a pale face with grey eyes, paired off with a slender build left most of the boys drooling, and Hinata’s face as bright as a traffic light.

“Gryffindor, please Gryffindor,” Tanaka muttered as Professor Takeda smiled gently and motioned for her to sit down on the stool.

“I thought you didn’t want any competition,” Iwaizumi raised an eyebrow and Misaki rolled her eyes with a muttered ‘boys’.

He was ignored as Tanaka and Nishinoya leaned forward, hope shining in their eyes and fists clenched. Professor Takeda but the sorting hat on her head, and a few seconds later, a loud cry echoed across the Hall.

“Ravenclaw!”

“No!” Nishinoya howled. “Why?”

Tanaka was sadly shaking his head besides him but immediately perked up when the next student was called forward, a boy with silver hair and a bright smile.

“He looks nice,” said Hinata.

“Hufflepuff,” Nishinoya guessed and Tanaka nodded.

“Definitely Hufflepuff.”

“Slytherin!” the hat called out.

“What?!”

“You’re joking!”

“Stop making a scene,” Daichi reprimanded the two, yet again.

Yet more were called forward, and the hat was placed on each of them to get them sorted into their houses. Hinata looked at every one of them in excitement, he’d never met anyone from another wizarding school, even if some of them did look a bit scary.

“Kenji Fukatuchi.”

“Hufflepuff!”

“Takanobu Aone.”

“Slytherin!”

“Kenjiro Shirabu.”

“Slytherin!”

“Kanji Koganegawa.”

“Hufflepuff!”

“Satori Tendo.”

“Ravenclaw!”

“Kenma Kozume.”

“Ravenclaw!”

“What about us?” moaned Nishinoya. “We’re not getting anyone.”

“You’ve certainly changed your tune,” Iwaizumi was looking over at the diminishing number of heads as the new students got sorted.

“I was–”

“Being stupid?” suggested Misaki with a wink and Daichi chuckled at Nishinoya’s childish pout.

“Alisa Haiba.”

“Hufflepuff!”

“Lev Haiba.”

“Gryffindor!”

“Yes!” Nishinoya jumped up, and Hinata immediately followed him.

“Yay!”

“We got one!” Tanaka whooped.

“Yutaro Kindaichi.”

“Gryffindor!”

“Another one! Another one!” Yamamoto began to cheer, and the rest of the Hall, used to it, ignored the Red table as the two new members’ hesitantly sat at the end, greatly disappointing those sitting a few feet down who were making all the racket.

Hinata tried to get a better look at them by standing on his tiptoes but someone tugged at the foot of his robes and he quickly sat back down.

“I think the headmaster wants to say something,” Yamaguchi said, who, as usual, had remained quiet for most of the dinner.

“Okay all brats are settled in?” The headmaster looked boredly around. “Then I’ll get Takeda to sort this Triwizard thing next week. Don’t make any trouble this year.”

He looked pointedly at the Gryffindor table before waving his hands and sitting back down. As soon as he did, all manners of desserts appeared on the table. Hinata was about to tuck in, when Daichi stood up.

“I better make sure the new guys feel welcome. Misaki, would you mind escorting the first years later?”

She shook her head, “no problem chief!”

Hinata glanced down the table, and then back at the large chocolate cake in front of him. He could meet the new people later, in the common room, for now, he had cake to eat. And as exciting as foreign students were, it appeared most the Hall agreed, there was nothing quite like Hogwarts desserts.

 

__________________________________

 

Kenma had managed to avoid much his new House’s attention by being sorted into the same house as a beautiful girl he thought might also go to Beauxbatons, and a tall lanky boy with bright red hair, he’s very much sure doesn’t. As it were, with those two taking up most of everyone’s attention, he just slipped into his seat, and kept his eyes focused on the wooden table in front of him.

He didn’t understand why everyone had to be ‘sorted’ especially like that, in front of everyone. And how did that talking hat even know? It had been a very strange experience, there was no doubt. It had talked to him, he had heard its voice in his head, debating where to put him. Kenma had already deduced Gryffindor was out of the question, from what he gathered, people were sorted via shared traits, and he couldn’t see how he and the three or four boys that kept standing up and screaming could be any more different. The hat had seemed torn between the Slytherin and Ravenclaw house, and when Kenma had thought that he didn’t particularly care where he ended up, the hat had suddenly shouted Ravenclaw and Kenma had almost fallen off the stool. Fortunately no one had seemed to notice, and everyone clapped politely, already distracted by the slim pretty girl that followed him.

He was too busy being distracted that he almost didn’t notice the spread that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. His eyes bugged as he stared at all the confectionary on the table, students all around him cheerfully reaching over and tucking in.

“Here you go!”

Someone dumped a large slice of chocolate cake onto his plate and he jumped a little, turning slightly to see a girl with big brown eyes and muddy brown hair, tied into a low pony tail, smiling cheerfully at him.

“You looked a little lost,” she reached to grab a cookie and put it on her own plate. “Don’t hesitate to ask if you want anything.”

Kenma shyly picked up his fork and awkwardly picked at the cake.

“Thank you,” he said quietly.

She didn’t seem to hear him and he shrunk in on himself a little bit, picking up a piece of cake and putting into his mouth. It was very nice, but Kenma couldn’t stomach more than a few bites.

“You’re not hungry?” the same girl asked again, noticing how little he was eating.

Kenma wondered if she was offended, but shook his head anyways. She looked a little confused and then suddenly smiled gently.

“It must be pretty scary being in a new place.”

Kenma wasn’t sure how to answer. Yes, it was absolutely terrifying, but sharing his feelings with a near stranger was almost equally so.

“I’m Mai Nametsu by the way. I’m a prefect, so if you need any help ever, just ask,” she began pointing to people around the table. “That’s Akaashi, that’s Ennoshita, he’s a prefect too, and that’s Ushijima, he’s the captain of the Quidditch team. Although I don’t know if we’ll still be holding matches with the Tournament.”

Nametsu chatted away, obviously trying to make Kenma feel more comfortable, and surprisingly enough it was actually working. It didn’t put Kenma completely at ease, very few things did, but did manage to lessen the panic that had been unknowingly mounting in his chest at being surrounded by so many unknown people. Even if he wasn’t completely processing what she was saying, the comfort that came from the knowledge of having someone to ask for help, did help assure him that his stay at Hogwarts might not be so terrible after all.

After a while, and for Kenma, two cookies later, the food vanished from the table and the Hall immediately dispered into chatter, as everyone began to stand up.

“I better go help with the first years, Ushijima might scare them into the dungeons again.”

Kenma tried not to look as panicked as he left at having to trying to find his way around the castle without the one acquaintance who’d bothered trying to make him feel welcome and nodded slightly.

“I’ll ask Akaashi to show you around if you want,” Nametsu looked at him, and Kenma wasn’t sure if the crease in her eyebrow was due to worry or annoyance.

Probably annoyance. He was about to shake his head not to bother her further, but she was already calling out for the ‘Akaashi’ she had pointed out previously.

“Something wrong?” The tall boy made his way over, dark curly hair and grey blue eyes that Kenma was pretty sure were glaring at him.

“Could you show…” Nametsu trailed off and looked embarrassed, “I’m so sorry, I never got your name.”

“Kozume Kenma.” He quickly provided, avoiding eye contact and she nodded.

“Could you show Kozume to the dorms, I’m going to make sure the first years are safe.”

Before he could even reply, she ran off to the other end of the table, leaving Kenma awkwardly shifting his feet, just waiting for Akaashi to stalk off without him.

“Do you feel alright Kozume?”

He looked up and to his surprise, Akaashi had stepped a little closer, and was staring at Kenma’s face.

“Just Kenma is fine,” he was too surprised Akaashi had actually spoken to him to properly answer the latter’s question, but he didn’t seem to bothered.

“Kenma then,” he motioned forward with his head. “Shall we?”

Kenma nodded and quickly moved to follow him, somehow falling into step with other, despite the marked difference in stature.

“Are you any good at riddles Kenma?” Akaashi asked randomly and Kenma paused.

He wasn’t particularly good or bad at riddles, he always managed to solve puzzles on his games but it wasn’t like he made habit out of solving things.

“I’m not sure.”

That answer seemed to amuse Akaashi for some reason, but he didn’t say anything more for a few minutes. They walked in silence for a while, but something about Akaashi’s serene and insouciant demeanor made it a comfortable silence. When Kenma walked with people, he was always aware of the gap of silence that always seemed to be there, and knew the other person wanted him to fill it somehow, but he never knew how. Akaashi on the other hand, somehow made the silence less awkward and more natural. Other students walked past them, laughing loudly, a boy with orange hair bouncing up and down as he yelled about his new broom.

“The Ravenclaw dorms are in one of the Towers,” Akaashi began to talk again. “You might get lost because the staircases move but you can always ask the portraits for directions. They’re usually helpful.”

“The stairs what?” Kenma didn’t usually ask people to repeat themselves, he didn’t usually ask people questions, but he wasn't entirely sure he’d heard Akaashi correctly.

Once again, the taller boy appeared amused but only shook his head, "don’t worry, you get used to it, I’ll make sure you don’t get too lost.”

“Oh. Thank you?” Kenma wasn’t sure what to say to that, but Akaashi didn’t seemed to mind his rather hesitant thanks and nodded serenely.

While walking to wherever it was the Ravenclaw Tower was located, Kenma couldn’t help but notice how big Hogwarts was. There were what seemed like hundreds of staircases, all leading to different corridors, and the massively high walls were covered in portraits chatting to each other. Akaashi seemed to know his way around very well, avoiding the busy corridors as well as some of the portraits calling out greetings to him as they passed.

Finally they reached a winding staircase and Akaashi waved to it.

“Here we are. This will be your new home for a while,” he suddenly smiled. “I think you’ll like it.”

Kenma had to admit, he was a little curious to see what it was like. He had no doubt it would be different to Beauxbatons, the whole place was, but he was very interested in seeing what the place where he’d be sleeping looked like.

He followed Akaashi up the stairs, almost bumping into him when he stopped abruptly. He peeked around his back, to see an a door and when he looked down, he noticed there was no doorknob, not even a keyhole. And with wizards’ aversion to anything technological he was pretty sure it wasn’t automatic. The only thing on the door was a bronze eagle knocker, that Akaashi appeared to be staring at.

Just as Kenma was about to ask how they could go in, the eagle knocker suddenly moved. It opened its beak and began to talk. Kenma almost jumped out his skin. It had been more than five years since he’d discovered the Wizarding World and yet the wonders of it never ceased to be able to amaze him.

“What can be broken, without being held?”

Kenma let out a breath and noticed what looked to be like a grin on Akaashi’s face. He looked accusingly at him, without saying anything and the other boy seemed to get the hint, although he was still smiling.

“Maybe I should have warned you,” he didn’t seem sorry at all, but Kenma found he didn’t particularly mind, he could tell Akaashi wasn’t being mean-spirited, he was just teasing him. “So thoughts?”

Kenma hesitated.

_What can be broken without being held._

Well, it almost seemed too easy.

“A heart,” he suggested and Akaashi looked a little surprised.

There was a click and the door swung open. Kenma stared at in surprise and looked back Akaashi who was still looking at him curiously.

““That was...” The boy paused and Kenma blinked, “insightful. I would have said silence.”

Akaashi then shook his head ruefully and pushed the door open, “I guess it’s a personal thing.”

Kenma wasn’t sure what he meant but for the first time since he arrived at Hogwarts, Kenma managed to smile. Maybe Akaashi was a little right, maybe he would be okay here for a little while.

 

 

__________________________________

 

“Do you play Quidditch?”

“No I–”

“What about you?”

Bokuto incessant questioning of the foreign students, his great grey owl following him around and hooting as he did, or the ‘new recruits’ as the Hufflepuff captain liked to call them, was beginning to give Yaku something of a headache.

“Bokuto let them settle in,” he called out, and got a few relieved glances sent his way as Bokuto huffed and ran over to collapse on the sofa, an owl landing on his head as he did.  

It had been a few hours since dinner, and the Hufflepuff common room had been gradually emptying for the past thirty minutes with Yaku, Kageyama and Yaku being some of the few remaining.

“I’m just seeing if any of them could try-out,” Bokuto pouted sulkily and his owl hopped from his head onto the arm of the sofa, where it began to preen its feathers.

Bokuto immediately began to stroke him, for some reason he had been even more obsessed with his owl than usual, he’d spent the first two hours of the evening apologising to him, and for the rest of it had been completely doting on the bird.

“We don’t even know if they’re holding the House Cup this year," Yaku flicked a page of his alchemy textbook and his eyes flitted over the small printed text. “So don’t get too excited.”

“They’re not holding the Cup?”

Someone interrupted and Yaku looked up. Oh boy.

“Kageyama!” Bokuto perked up. “Of course they’re holding the Cup! And this is the year I’m finally going to see that Kuroo bite the dust!”

“They’re not going to cancel Quidditch,” Kageyama ignored Bokuto and looked piercingly at Yaku, who put his book down.

It was more of a statement than a question so he briefly pondered avoiding answering, but knew both Bokuto and Kageyama would bug him for the rest of the night if he didn’t put this to bed now. The only ones that could compete with those two on obsession with Quidditch was Kuroo and the Gryffindor seeker.

“There’s the Triwizard Tournament remember?”

Both Bokuto and Kageyama looked at him blankly, and Yaku belatedly remembered them both respectively getting a T in History of Magic, “usually the Triwizard Tournament is what the school focuses on, so they can’t really put on Quidditch matches as well. They’ll probably be using the pitches for the Tournament too.”

“They wouldn’t…” Bokuto looked horrified. “Not the pitch.”

“They can’t cancel Quidditch,” Kageyama was scowling again and if Yaku hadn’t been living with that scowl for the past five years it would probably sent him running.

“I’m sure they’ll do their best,” he looked at the two of them. “Just don’t keep your hopes up. How about you enter the Tournament instead?”

Kageyama’s answer was immediate and expected, “I don’t want to.”

Bokuto on the other hand, was successfully distracted, “that’s not a bad idea. It’s be super cool to win, and the tasks are probably fun! Kageyama, you enter too!”

The younger boy looked scandalized, “What? No!”

“Yes!” Bokuto hooted. “You have to! More chances of Hufflepuff and showing those dumb Slytherins who’s boss!”

Kageyama vehemently shook his head, scowling unhappily, “I want to play Quidditch not mess around in some random tournament.”

“Hinata is entering,” Yaku started to read his book again. “Don’t you always compete with him?”

“Hinata is?”

Yaku smiled to himself, both Bokuto and Kageyama have been successfully distracted. He knew it would probably only last until morning, but hopefully by then the Headmaster would be making his announcement and everything would be much clearer.

“So you do want to enter?” Bokuto was cajoling Kageyama again. “It’ll be super fun! Whoever gets in!”

“Maybe,” Kageyama appeared to be deep in thought, although it was hard to tell because whatever his mood there always seemed to be a frown permanently glued to his forehead.

After a few more minutes of both reading listening to his children squabbling, Yaku swung his legs off the sofa and stood up, tucking his book under his arm as he did.

“Don’t stay up too late,” he said as he made his way to the dorms and he heard Bokuto’s hoot of acknowledgement and rolled his eyes.

He chucked his book on his bedside table and as quickly as he could got ready for bed. He got into his bed, smiling slightly at the familiar smell of the wood and fresh sheets. He blew his candle out, and stared up the darkness. He had no doubt if he fell asleep now he would be woken up in the next hour or so by Bokuto not thinking to use a light or spell and bumping into everything in the room in trying to find the bathroom. He smiled. He would miss this.

Yaku knew this was his last year at Hogwarts but somehow it hadn’t sunk in. It somehow felt like there was something missing from his life, but he wasn’t sure what it was. It was true he wasn’t completely enamored by a particular job, like Bokuto’s professional Quidditch aspirations, but he felt Auror was a good choice, and he had the grades for it. Unlike Kageyama. Thinking of that boy’s grades only made Yaku wince so he flung them from his mind. But yes, he was missing something, what was it? Excitement? Well, his life wasn’t boring but neither was it particularly thrilling.  

Well, if something is missing, it’ll probably turn about someday. Yaku tried not to dwell on the hypothetical or potential. He had enough to worry about with NEWTs without adding lack of emotional fulfilment of teenage years to the mix. He shifted slightly and closed his eyes, but still, even if it wasn’t top on his list of priorities, it probably wouldn’t hurt to do a little bit of exploring, for this missing piece of his Hogwarts life.

 

__________________________________

 

Oikawa was pouting. Michiyima let out a sigh. Oikawa pouting was never a good thing. Why couldn’t he have waited until morning to have sulk? Now no one was allowed out in the corridors so she’d have to deal with this herself. Kuroo was off settling the foreign students, the only one left in the common room, Terushima was too busy playing with his pet Doxy. From experience, Michiyima knew if Oikawa was left to himself he would be an absolute nightmare the following day.

Slowly she stood up and made her way to sit on the sofa, where was Iwaizumi when you needed him? Oh that’s right, probably nice and warm in bed in the Gryffindor common room.

“What’s wrong?”

Oikawa only pouted more and slid further down the sofa. Michiyima tried to keep her face impassive, Oikawa was usually bright and cheery, so much so people often forgot he was a Slytherin, but he definitely had his moods, although there was only two things that usually sent him into one.  

“Iwaizumi told me not to enter the Tournament.”

There was the first.

“And Kageyama had the audacity to say it was a useless game!”

And there was the second.

“How could Iwa-chan tell me not to? He’s entering, why shouldn’t I enter too?”

“Maybe he was worried about your grades?” Michiyima suggested.

“But he might be doing it!” Oikawa threw his legs up childishly.

Michimyima didn’t know Oikawa very well, the only reason she was the one comforting him was because there was literally no one else. But she also wasn’t stupid, and she knew as much as Oikawa acted like most things didn’t bother him, and had childish tantrums over things that seemed stupid, there was something more to him.

“Are you going to enter then?” That being said, she still had no idea how to talk to the guy.

Oikawa ran a hand through his brown hair and Michiyima tried not to stare. She didn’t have a crush on him, but there was no denying he was attractive. Less of the rugged handsomeness of Iwaizumi and Kuroo, though, there was more of a delicate prettiness to his features, slightly feminine but still, as most girls could ascertain, undeniably male.

“I’m going to enter. And then I’m going to win and squish that annoying little bug.”

Kageyama not doubt.

“And show Iwa-chan I can participate in the Tournament. How could he say that? He’s so boring, and no fun!”

“Why don’t you just talk to him?” Michiyima asked, knowing full well Iwaizumi’s words tended to be blunt and his sentences often too short to convey exactly what he meant.

What he’d probably meant was don’t enter the Tournament until you’ve thought about it properly. Michiyima couldn’t think of Iwaizumi actually denying Oikawa of anything unless it was extremely stupid and dangerous. He did treat Oikawa like an idiot sometimes, and he had every right Michiyima thought, but she knew they were best friends, but more than that Iwaizumi was a _good_ friend. He just wasn’t a very good talker.

“Oh, you guys are still up,” Kuroo strolled into the common room, all smiles and swagger with three cats in tow.

There was immediately a small shriek as Terushima’s doxy caught sight of the cats and whizzed into his owner’s robes. Terushima glared at Kuroo.

“Can’t they stay in your room?”

Kuroo ignored him and sauntered to the green sofa opposite Michiyima and Oikawa. He threw himself down and lay down on the sofa, lazily stroking the egyptian mau that had jumped up and settled on his chest.

“Kuroo,” Oikawa whinged. “I’ve been told not to do something.”

“Then of course you must do it,” Kuroo didn’t hesitate and smirked at Oikawa, who grinned back, mood suddenly upturned.

“But of course.”

Michiyima resisted the temptation to put her head in her hands, why did she even bother to try and reason with the people of her house. Everyone in Slytherin was mad.

“Does this have anything to do with the Triwizard Tournament?” Terushima was standing up, his pet doxy now flitting above his head.

Were doxy even legal as pets?

“Does this have anything to do with you?” was Oikawa’s flippant response, Kuroo's timely arrival having, for now at least, brought him out of his slump.

Terushima was someone Michiyima was never really sure if she liked him or not. He was popular, not as much as Oikawa and Kuroo but definitely up there, and Michiyima could admit she could see why. He loved to have fun, and much like Noya and Ryuu he was always pulling pranks. However, he definitely had a little bit of, what Michiyima would call a mean streak. He was not cruel, but he tended to get overly competitive and wasn’t above putting people down to get what he wanted. It wasn’t such a rare trait in Slytherin, but for some reason, it irked Michiyima that Terushima was that way much more than the others. Maybe because he was so honest about it, he didn’t seem to think it was at all shameful to hex or jinx people who got in his way.

“You’re entering?” Kuroo questioned and Terushima nodded with a grin.

“Sounds like fun.”

“Everything is fun with you,” Michiyima frowned. “If you’re entering, take it seriously.”

Terushima laughed mockingly, “yes, yes little miss Prefect.”

“Terushima,” Michiyima stood up and whacked him over the side of the head, "you represent the school if you’re chosen as champion.”

“More importantly, you get a thousand galleons if you win,” Terushima winked.

And Michiyima threw her hands up.

“I give up,” she said, “I’m going to bed.”

She made to walk up the stairs but Kuroo’s shout stopped her.

“Watch out!”

She immediately froze.,“what? What’s wrong?”

“You almost stepped on Elizabeth.”

“Elizabeth? Who’s–” Michiyima looked out and let out a breath.

A white, ginger and black tortoiseshell cat was leisurely trotting away, from where it had been previously lying peacefully just a few inches from her foot. Kuroo crooned and she ran over to him, and he immediately began to pet her.

Michiyima ground her teeth. Why was it that all the weirdoes were in her house? All the other ones seemed completely normal! She was pretty sure there were no emotionally unstable or random animal-obsessed guys in the other houses, no, they just had to end up in her own.

“Bye Michiyima,” Terushima waved chirpily and she wearily raised a hand in response.

“Sleep well,” Oikawa added, kicked up his legs. “I’m going too.”

“Later,” Kuroo pulled out his wand and waved it, obviously intending to stay up for a bit longer, the dark blue curtains swishing shut. “Don’t let the bedbugs bite.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit late but also a bit longer ;)


	3. Is This What You Want?

“I’m going to beat you for sure this year.”

“I’d like to see you try dumbass!”

“You’re the dumbass, dumbass!”

“Looks like your vocabulary is as small as your brain!”

“At least I can actually fly!”

“I can fly better than you with my eyes closed dimwit!”

“Imbecile!”

“Moron!”

“Jerk!”

“Idiot!”

“Jesus Christ, do they _ever_ shut up?!”

The insults may have been coming from outside but they had been loud enough to float through the open window of the Gryffindor boy’s dormitory and Yamamoto shook his head with a guffaw at Kindaichi’s question as he groggily sat up, having been woken up ten minutes ago by the two little figures he could just see zooming around from the window next to his bed.

“Nope.”

Kindaichi looked a little put off at Yamamoto’s cheerful answer as he strolled around the dorm full of energy.

“It’s getting me fired up!” he pumped a first in the air. “We’re gonna roast those losers this year!”

“Losers?” Kindaichi questioned, as he dragged himself out of bed.

“They’re gonna be,” Yamamoto nodded. “Definitely. You any good at Quidditch?”

Kindaichi tried not to turn green at the thought of being up in the air and managed a ‘not bad’ which was violently dismissed by Yamamoto with a loud ‘not bad is not good enough’.

“How long have they been at it?” Kindaichi rubbed his eyes and stretched, a little unsure of what to do with himself, he wasn’t hungry enough for breakfast yet.  

“A while,” Nishinoya came out the bathroom, fully dressed in his Keeper gear and knocked on the post of Tanaka’s bed. “Get up, Ryuu! We’re going to practice.”

“Quidditch is pretty big here,” Kindaichi observed as Tanaka chucked on his clothes, falling off his bed with a grunt as he tried to pull his trousers on.

“Kyoutani! Up! Up! Up and at ‘em!” Nishinoya banged on the other’s bed who growled at him. “I’ll get Iwaizumi!”

Nishinoya danced out of the way of a pillow as Kyoutani immediately jumped up.

“Iwaizumi?” Kindaichi questioned, and wondered whether he was going to get ignored again, as the bleached haired boy almost tripped over in his haste to get ready.

Nishinoya rolled his eyes, “vice-captain and the only guy wolf boy listens to.”

That didn’t ring any bells to Kindaichi so he just shrugged, “is everyone in Gryffindor on the Quidditch team?”

“Anyone worth knowing is,” Noya answered with a large grin. "That actually goes for the other Houses too. Yamaguchi is an exception though. Because he's adorable. And he helps with homework."

Tanaka, now fully dressed in red and gold, whacked his friend on the back with a large grin on his face. “Let’s go!”

Kindaichi watched as the four made their way out of the dorm room, Yamamoto turning to look back at Kindaichi with a raised eyebrow.

“You coming new kid?”

He shook his head, “I’m gonna get some breakfast.”

Yamamoto nodded and disappeared out of the door. Kindaichi looked around the room. Clothes were strewn everywhere, beds unmade with dark red blankets half on the beds and half on the floor. Kindaichi had to admit when he was told he was going to stay at Hogwarts for a few weeks, he had not expected to be put in a dormitory with two guys whose only method of communication seemed to be either excited yelling or cackling, another who seemed unable to manage more than three words and another whose volume refused to go below loud.

And what the hell was with that wake-up? What kind of people were up at the crack of dawn, playing Quidditch and yelling insults at each other? Kindaichi shook his head, and briefly wondered if that weird talking hat had put him in the right place. He looked at the Hogwarts school uniform that had been lain out on his bed, waiting for him when he’d been guided up to the Gryffindor dormitories last night. He pulled on the shirt and trousers, tightening the red tie around his collar before throwing on the large robe. He looked at the door, he remembered the way to the breakfast hall, or the big hall or whatever, but he still wasn’t hungry. He had said he was getting breakfast, only because he had nothing else to do.

He shrugged. He wasn’t hungry now but he probably would be later. He opened the door and walked down the staircase, wondering whether every awakening at Hogwarts would involve people screaming insults outside the window.

____________________________

Hinata trudged onto the Quidditch court, eyes very much focusing on the ground instead of the mauve sky, where, if he were to look up, a black streak was flying, swooping and spinning up above. He'd noticed Kageyama almost as soon as he had stepped out of the castle and onto the grass leading up to the court, dressed in black and yellow and zooming around, too fast for Hinata to tell who he was from his eye alone, but there was only one person who flew like that. His boots were soaked from him dragging them through the dew-covered grass. He let out a sigh and a cold breeze blew through the court. He shivered and immediately turned his walk to a jog as he ran towards the broom shed.

He immediately smiled as he opened the door, and his eyes landed on the polished broom handle and dark broom twigs that made his broom. There was a single spiderweb from the floor and across the bottom and Hinata grimaced. He took a step closer and then froze. Spiderweb meant spider. It had been a while since he'd used his broom, so the spiderweb could be old and the spider that built it long gone. But there was also a chance that the spider was still there. Hinata hated spiders. He hated all bugs, but spiders were the worst. He reached out towards the handle and let out a small shriek, snatching his hand back, as he thought he saw something move.

"What are you doing?" an annoyed sounding voice interrupted him and Hinata let out another shriek and jumped back, almost falling back into the brooms if not for the harsh grip on his arm supporting him.

"Watch it."

Hinata quickly straightened and the hand let go of him.

"Thanks," He said not looking up at the dark blue eyes he was sure would be glaring at him.

"What are you doing?" Kageyama repeated the question and Hinata pursed his lips, unwanted memories he'd been trying to push back into his brain resurfacing as Kageyama stepped a little closer to him.

"Trying to get my broom," Hinata tried to discreetly step away from him and gritting his teeth reached out for his broom, a slight tremor in his fingers.

Unbeknownst to him, Kageyama's eyes flicked down to the bottom of Hinata's broom and he rolled his eyes.

"Let's go," he grabbed the handle of the broom right from under Hinata's fingertips and strode out of the shed, obviously expecting to Hinata to follow him.

After a second of hesitation where Hinata considered just making a run for freedom, he followed Kageyama out. He eyed the taller boy, who looked totally unperturbed, chucking Hinata his broom and jumping back onto his own one without a word. Hinata fumbled and hugged his broom closer to him. Maybe Kageyama had forgotten. Hinata didn't know whether to feel upset or relieved. The events from the end of last year had replayed in his head like a broken record, he had played hundreds of different scenarios of how he was going to react to see Kageyama. Hinata swallowed and let out a breath.

"Alright."

He leant his broom against his shoulder and slapped his cheeks. He was going to put all that stuff behind him. Kageyama and him were friends and that was how it was. He put his broom in front of him and slung a leg over. He pushed off and smiled as he rose up and zoomed over to where Kageyama was hovering above him.

"Wanna do a few laps?" he flitted around Kageyama with a challenging grin.

Kageyama looked a little surprised but then gave his usual scary grin back.

"You're on."

The both of them shot off. They flew around the court, flitting in and around the goals, neither of them above yelling at the other. Over an hour they spent, racing each other; up, down, around, diving, swooping, spinning; Hinata flying down to bring briefly say hello as Nishinoya and the rest of the Gryffindor team arrived and did some practice before going back to practicing with Kageyama. Time passed and and the wind began to strengthen as Hinata slowly spiralled down.

He tried not to giggle as Kageyama almost fell off his broom. They'd been practicing for a few hours but the wind had only started to pick up and it was getting more difficult to fly by the minute. Hinata was also having some trouble, but at least he wasn't trying to actually practice. There was no point, like Nishinoya had said before him, and the rest of those who had joined Hinata and Kageyama to train, having retreated to get some breakfast. Speaking of, he was getting pretty hungry. He looked up to see Kageyama still stubbornly refusing to come down.

He considered calling to him but after a few minutes of waiting for the Hufflepuff to come closer so he could hear him, Hinata shrugged and tipped his brown downwards. He grinned as the wind whittled past his ears, the sting on his face being worth the exhilaration of speeding along on his broomstick. The ground got closer and closer, and soon he would be able to see the individual blades of grass on the Quidditch pitch. To anyone watching it looked like he would smash into the green, he pulled at his handle and his broom evened to become parallel with the ground. He slowed down and finally came to a stop, letting an excited breath. He slung one leg off off his broom, shivering with excitement. It'd been a while since he'd done that. He jumped off his broom and laughed. Quidditch really was the best.

"Are you a dumbass?"

A very familiar voice with an equally familiar question asked from behind him and he spun around, almost whacking the black-haired boy in the head with his broom as he did.

"Watch it!" Kageyama snapped and glared at Hinata who grinned cheerfully back.

"What?"

"You're stupid."

Hinata smile was quickly replaced with a scowl.

"Why?"

"Because you do stupid things," Kageyama answered as if Hinata really was stupid. "You could've died."

Hinata rolled his eyes, "stop exaggerating."

Kageyama didn't say anything back, picked his broom up trudged off, his yellow robes billowing out behind him. Hinata immediately followed.

"How was your holiday?" he asked, pulling his too big broom behind him as he went.

"Will you stop dragging that? You're gonna damage it."

"Oh yeah," Hinata hoisted it up, not bothering to tell Kageyama he'd actually bought a new broom, because that would mean admitting he'd forgotten it at home. "So your holidays?"

Kageyama didn't say anything but Hinata could see the corners of his mouth turning down and he knew he wasn't going to answer. Not that it mattered, Hinata always had enough to say for the both of them.

"Mine were pretty cool. My little sister got a puppy for Christmas so we spent most of the holidays taking care of it. It's so cute! It's got a little ears and it's so fluffy!" Hinata'a broom dropped back down as he enthusiastically talked about his muggle holiday.

His eyes glittered as he recalled his Christmas. He bounced along cheerfully, telling Kageyama all about his Christmas tree, and an unfortunate incident involving his wand getting stolen by the new puppy and almost setting the tree on fire. Kageyama nodded and mumbled responses every now and then before they reached the small shed where the brooms and Quidditch equipment was held. The door swung open as they got closer and Kageyama took Hinata's broom without a word and put it back.

"Thanks," Hinata said brightly, and got ready to launch back into his holiday chatter.

"Let's get breakfast," Kageyama interrupted before he could start talking again.

"Good idea! I'm starving!" Hinata nodded enthusiastically. "Noya and the others have probably already eaten though...actually what time is it?"

He looked down at his wrist, only to find he wasn't wearing a watch. Of course he wasn't, he never wore a watch at Hogwarts, but muggle habits were hard to break.

"Shit."

Kageyama's exclamation was all he needed.

"How late are we?"

"Only fifteen minutes."

They looked at each other and Hinata grinned.

"Race you there!"

He took off not bothering to check Kageyama was behind him because he knew he would be. They pelted across the grass, neck a neck, shoulders almost touching as Hinata pumped his legs as fast as they would go. There was no way he was losing to Kageyama.

____________________________

Daichi could only be grateful Nishinoya and Tanaka were not at breakfast. Even with the exclusion of those two, it had been a nightmare for the headboy. One of the new students had brought a Jarvey with him to breakfast which had then proceeded to call Bokuto a moronic twit, and the latter had got so excited and wouldn't stop pestering the new kid. Said Jarvey had then tried to eat Terushima's doxy, who had then cast petrificus totalus, and because he was incapable of aiming, it wasn't the Jarvey that was hit but the new kid that had brought him. That in turn, had for some reason, resulted in Kuroo (who very much could aim) stupefying him.

"Kuroo," Daichi grabbed his collar and dragged him away from the stupefied Terushima, looking at Michiyima and pointing to the Slytherin boy.

"Could you take him to the infirmary?"

Michiyima let out a sigh but nodded, "leave it to me."

Daichi looked over to the owner of the Jarvey, by the looks of his absolutely panicked face, it had been a total accident, and he probably needed rescuing. Fortunately, Bokuto had been apprehended by Akaashi, who also seemed to be comforting the boy. The Hall was starting to quiet down too. He yanked Kuroo and of the Hall.

"Ouch! Watch the face," Kuroo said amusedly and Daichi let go of him.

"Proud of yourself?" He asked with a raised eyebrow and Kuroo smirked.

"That was an exemplary stupefy spell."

"That's not the point!" Daichi snapped. "You're a prefect. You're in your final year, you should be setting an example."

"What about excellent magic is not setting an example?" Kuroo was as flippant as ever.

"Take this seriously!" Daichi groaned, although he knew trying to get Kuroo to take anything other than Quidditch seriously was pointless.

"I'm sure Terushima won't mind," Kuroo shrugged. "He's been hit with worst."

Daichi and Kuroo were friends, but sometimes he could not for the life of him understand him.

"You're lucky Professor Mizoguchi isn't coming back until next week," Daichi sighed. "And fifty points from Slytherin."

"What?" Kuroo looked scandalised. "Why?"

"Why?!" Daichi glared at him. "Using magic outside of class you idiot! Twenty five from you and twenty five from Terushima."

"Come on now."

"You're lucky I'm not taking more off."

"What for?"

"Sheer stupidity."

"You'd have to take a lot more points of your own house than me if that was how it worked," Kuroo cackled to himself.

Daichi knew there wasn't much point continuing this conversation, Kuroo always had something to say about everything. However the question still remained, why had he stupefied Terushima? As far as Daichi was concerned, they were on relatively good terms, by now means best buddies, but definitely not mortal enemies.

"I'll be off now," Kuroo started to walk down the corridor and Daichi raised a hand.

"Wait Kuroo! Hey! Why did you stupefy him?" There must have at least been a reason. 

Kuroo paused and spun around with a small shrug, "just felt like it."

Of course there wasn't.

Daichi closed his eyes and took a deep breath and managed to speak at a reasonable volume.

"Well then, just try and not make an ass out of yourself for the rest of year."

"Try not to ask for the impossible," Kuroo waved a hand with a smirk and disappeared down the corridor when Daichi realised he had never asked who the student who owned the Jarvey was. He shrugged, he was sure Akaashi would sort it out, the only reason he wasn't wasn't a prefect because he was too busy with, well, his issues.

"You handled it well." 

Daichi looked up to see a beautiful boy smiling gently at him. Daichi opened his mouth to answer but nothing came out. The boy continued to smile kindly at him and he quickly cleared his throat. 

"Thanks," He smoothed down his robes and looked a the boy; he wasn't familiar. "I don't think I've seen you around before."

The boy shook his head and laughed, silver hair swaying as he did and Daichi stared. He wasn't one to stare but there was something mesmerisingly beautiful about the boy with the silver hair and the tinkling laugh. 

"No. I'm from Beauxbatons." 

"I see," Daichi nodded and then immediately extended a hand. "I'm Sawamura Daichi."

The silver-haired boy took his hand, his smile widening, "Koshi Sugawara. My friends call me Suga."

"Nice to meet you Sugawara." 

Sugawara chuckled, "friends would include you, Daichi. Don't you think?" 

Daichi felt his face heat and he coughed nervously, "oh yes, um, thanks. Well then, do you need any guidance...or...a...map...or...anything?"

He was aware of his less than eloquent way of putting words together and guidance really? Not that a map was much better, but this conversation just seemed to be heaping one embarrassment on top of another so he wouldn't be overly surprised if Suga just turned him down and went to ask someone else. 

Suga only smiled and nodded, "a little guidance wouldn't hurt at all. Hogwarts is quite a lot bigger than I expected."

"Oh yeah. I got lost at least ten times in my first year, but you'll get the hang of it in no time," Daichi was aware that he had begun to speak to Suga in much the same way he would talk to the first years, but at least it was an improvement on the stuttering mess of earlier. 

"Thank you," Suga on the other hand, was as calm as a winter night. "Would you mind helping me find the Transfiguration classroom?"

Daichi had to hold back a little cheer, which he very barely managed, but he couldn't hold back the large grin that spread across his face. 

"No problem at all."

Transfiguration was his next class.

____________________________

Yamaguchi yawned and smiled a little when he saw Kageyama and Hinata practicing, whizzing around on their brooms in a way that Yamaguchi would never be able to do. He loved Quidditch, but he would never be able to play. It just wasn't something he could do; but he would always support Hinata. Hinata, to who flying came easy to, who could fly on his broom as easy as a bird could fly on its wings. 

"Yamaguchi!" a cheerful voice interrupted him and he turned his gaze down from the greyish blue sky and down to the blonde running towards him.

"Yachi" he smiled at her and opened his arms to give her a quick hug. 

She looked up curiously, "what are you looking at?" 

She soon caught sight of the two boys practicing and made a small 'ah' of recognition.

"They've made up," observed Yamaguchi as Hinata's loud laugh carried over from the Quidditch court to the North Tower. 

Yachi smiled, "of course."

She looked back at him questioningly, "have you had breakfast?"

He nodded, "you?"

"Yeah. Someone brought a jarvey with them and Bokuto got _very_ excited."

"I can imagine," Yamaguchi didn't know the Hufflepuff captain very well but his over-excitable reputation preceded him, he then frowned. "A jarvey?"

"Yeah," Yachi shook her head. "I hope none of the new people were scared off."

"I'm sure it wasn't that bad."

"It wasn't great," Yachi pursed her lips, seeming be reliving her evidently eventful breakfast and then suddenly looked at Yamaguchi. "Let's go. We can't be late to our first class of the year!"

Yamaguchi and Yachi began to walk down the Tower, both having History of Magic, which incidentally happened to be Yachi's favourite class, which was why she was so enthusiastic. Yamaguchi didn't particularly care for it, it was interesting at times, and at others it was as boring as listening to Yaku trying to talk more people into doing alchemy, which usually involved long spiels about Nicholas Flamel and various random gemstones. 

"How's Tsukishima?" Yachi asked, as they made their way to the classroom, the halls starting to buzz with other students making their way to their own respective classes. 

Yamaguchi paused for a second, his mind flitting to his other blonde friend. For some reason he hadn't been able to find him on the train the other day, usually they would ride the train together, but this time they hadn't. He'd looked for him at dinner too, and hadn't been able to find him. 

"I haven't seen him," a twinge of worry pulled at his voice and Yachi patted his arm. 

"You know what he's like when it comes to coming back to school."

Yamaguchi nodded slowly. Yes, fours years of train rides with Tsukki had made it very clear to Yamaguchi that Tsukishima was no fan of Hogwarts, and even magic. Sometimes Yamaguchi wondered if he even wanted to be a wizard. To Yamaguchi there had never been a question of whether he wanted to go to Hogwarts and learn magic. Perhaps because he was told he couldn't, that he wasn't magic, that he was just a squib, it just made him all the more desperate to get to Hogwarts. And when the letter had come, he could still see the look of delight on his mother's face, of shock on his father and the immense joy he was sure on his own. 

"Hi Professor Binns," Yachi brightly greeted their professor who was hovering in front of the classroom door. 

"Good morning Miss Chisa and Mister Sama."

They nodded and Yamaguchi leaned in closer to Yachi. 

"Four years and he still doesn't know our names."

Yachi waved him off as she went to find some seats, "he's old. I don't blame him."

"Four years." Yamaguchi said to himself, shaking his head, and then to Yachi. "You're his best student."

Yachi pulled out her textbook and didn't answer Yamaguchi, they tended to have the same conversation every time Professor Binns got their names wrong, which amounted to just about every time they had History of Magic. Yamaguchi pulled out his own and tried to listen to Professor Binns as he droned on about some sort of Troll revolution or was it goblin? In his defence, he was doing a much better job than most of the other students. It seemed not even months of Christmas holidays were rejuvenating enough to counter the drone of Professor Binns, as half the class was dozing off, with most of the other half slumped onto the desks. In fact, Yachi was the only one taking any notes. After around half an hour of torture, as Yamaguchi's resolve was fading, his head getting progressively closer and closer to the table, Yachi put down her quill and turned to him. 

"So are you thinking of entering?" She asked quietly. 

A little surprised, less by the random question, and more by the fact that Yachi was actually talking to him during History of Magic, Yamaguchi took a few seconds to respond with the ever intelligent sounding noise of confusion:

"Eh?"

"The Triwizard Tournament."

It briefly occurred to Yamaguchi that the reason Yachi was talking to him was neither due to some forced sense of duty to ease her fellow's suffering, nor that she had grown bored of the class itself and needed some distraction, it was that Professor Binns had put himself to sleep, and was now floating around the classroom with an occasional snore assuring everyone he was still asleep. So in his distracted thoughts, he was pretty sure he had just misheard what he thought Yachi had just said.

"Sorry what?" 

"The Tournament," She said, and lowered her voice to a whisper, "are you going to enter?"

"No?" Yamaguchi whispered back, utterly confused. 

"Why do you sound so surprised?" Yachi frowned a little. "I think you'd do well."

If it had been anyone else saying that, Yamaguchi would have laughed, and they probably would have joined in soon after. As it was Yachi, he only shook his head. 

"No, I wouldn't. I'd be terrible. I would be burnt, destroyed, disintegrated–"

"No you wouldn't," Yachi bumped his shoulder lightly. "Why don't you give it a try?"

He shook his head again, "Yachi. The Tournament is for people like Daichi or Kuroo, who're smart and can...you know."

Yamaguchi waved his hands ineffectively, and then winced as he accidentally brushed through the passing Binns, still sleeping. Yachi giggled and closed her History of Magic book. Yamaguchi looked down at his own, still a little confused as to why Yachi would ask him. He was, perhaps a little flattered. Like he had said, he had never even considered entering the Triwizard Tournament. Even more so than Quidditch, it just wasn't something people like him did. He wasn't smart, he wasn't popular, and he wasn't particularly good at magic. He had friends yes, but most of them had made friends with him, rather than he with them. For someone like him, entering the Tournament was a death wish, he frowned and then asked Yachi a little curiously.

"Why would you ask?" 

"Hm?" Yachi looked up from reading her notes. "Ask what?"

"About the Tournament? Someone like me–"

Yachi interrupted him and frowned, "someone like you?"

Yamaguchi motioned to himself. "Think winner of the Triwizard Tournament. I'm the last thing you would think of."

"Of course you are," Yachi said bluntly. "But that's only because you haven't won it. Obviously if you think of the winner of a tournament, no one's going to think of someone who's never won it before. But that's the whole point of entering!"

"No Yachi that's–"

"You're entering the tournament?!"

Kanji Koganegawa was someone, in Yamaguchi's opinion, who's boundless optimism could only be matched by two things. The first thing would be Hinata Shouyou's boundless optimism, that Yamaguchi didn't think could be beaten by anyone, and the second would be Koganegawa's massive height. He was from Dumstrang, but already fit into Hufflepuff like a puppy in a playpen. He was in the same year as Yamaguchi too but couldn't be more different, already towering over him, and a lot of the years above them too. 

"Koganegawa," Yachi greeted him. "Hello."

"Hello," he smiled brightly at her then turned to Yamaguchi. "So you're entering? I wanted too as well, but I wasn't sure anyone from our year would be, because you know, all the rumours about it being so dangerous and everything. Apparently a few decades ago there was a challenge with dementors." Koganegawa leant in closer. "And one of the competitors _died_."

"Really?" Yachi's eyes were wide. "What happened?"

"He got kissed and–"

"Nothing. Because it's probably not true," Yamaguchi interrupted before Yachi could get sucked in.

Kaganegawa looked around, "maybe. Or maybe _not_."

"Wow," Yachi looked at Yamaguchi, and shivered a little. "It sounds scary. I thought it was something like the Quidditch Cup. I had no idea it could be so dangerous."

"Yeah," Koganegawa nodded, the two brown strands of hair that seemed to be able to defy gravity mimicking the motion, and he pumped his fist. "I'm still entering though! It could be dangerous, but it also could be fun!"

"Good for you," Yamaguchi said, not cruelly, but not particularly enthusiastically. 

He was suddenly missing Tsukishima. Yachi was probably right, and he had just been sulking somewhere. But they had never missed a train together, and this little fact had been hanging in the back of his mind since yesterday. He had been ignoring it, but the more time passed the more invading that thought grew, and the more he wished the next class would begin so he could see Tsukki and alleviate the one anxious thought that always seemed to be in his head: was he unwanted?

____________________________

"Are you sure you're okay?" Akaashi asked for the third time, hovering next to Kenma's bed like an overprotective mother hen. 

Thankfully Bokuto had been kicked out by Madame Pomfrey for 'disturbing the other patients' and Terushima had woken up some five minutes ago, seemed to have no hard feelings towards him, quite the opposite, he had seemed delighted to have been stupefied, and left in high spirits. Kenma nodded in response to Akaashi question, but didn't say anything, curling his fingers and bunching the sheets together underneath them. 

"Kenma you're not in any trouble," Akaashi's voice was gentle. 

Kenma looked up at him and his face had a gentle smile on it. 

"No?" Kenma's voice was quiet but at least he managed to get it level before he spoke. 

Akaashi shook his head with a small laugh, "accidents happen. You should have seen Hinata or Kageyama's first year here, I don't think there was anything they didn't manage to set on fire. And you're not the one who stupefied Terushima."

Kenma briefly wondered who had. He had been a little occupied being unable to move so hadn't seen anything of what had happened after Sphinx had launched himself at the Doxy that he now knew belonged the Terushima. Who kept a Doxy as a pet?

"I've got to get to class. Rest up," Akaashi patted Kenma's shoulder.

"Thank you," Kenma said quietly and Akaashi smiled at him. 

"What are friends for?"

Kenma stared him, a little surprised but managed a little smile in response. As awful as he felt, Akaashi had managed to feel a little better. However it didn't last very long, as soon as Akaashi had left, taking the slightly awkward but at least comforting hand he had put on Kenma's shoulder with him, Kenma began to feel the anxiety surging through his body again. 

He wanted to curl into a hole and die. Which was a feeling that was becoming worryingly familiar. He had known bringing Sphinx with him to breakfast with him had been a terrible idea, but the guilt at having no food for his jarvey had been too much and he had thought he could just sneak some bacon or sausage to him and then drop him back into the dorm. It had then, of course after all the drama, occurred to Kenma that he should have left Sphinx in his dorm and brought the food to him, instead of the other way round.

But the damage was done, and now Kenma was sitting in the infirmary because he couldn't move. It wasn't because of the curse. In fact, it had happened all too often, being in a dormitory full of boys so different from you meant you had to get used to people throwing curses and hexes at you. Sometimes people didn't even notice when he'd been cursed because he wasn't exactly known for moving a lot. But this was the first time he'd been hit by the full-body bind full-on and in front of so many people, all their eyes had been on him, and even though it been countered, he couldn't bring himself to get up. He just wanted to hide away. Akaashi had countered the curse almost as soon as it had been cast on him, and then he must have noticed the state Kenma was in, because he'd brought Kenma to the infirmary, jarvey for the moment forgotten. 

Speaking of, it might be good for him to think about something else. Sphinx was curled up on Kenma's shoulder, just underneath his robes, giving Kenma a look somewhat akin to a hunchback. He slowly moved his hand up and stroked his pet's head. 

"You gave me a lot of trouble," he mumbled and Sphinx muttered something, probably offensive, under his breath. 

" _You_ gave me a a lot of trouble," a very familiar voice interrupted his musings and Kenma jumped, snatching his hand back from under his robe and whipping his head up to the door of the infirmary. 

Leaning against the doorway, with confidence practically oozing out of him was someone Kenma had doubted he would ever see again. His green tie was half undone and the top buttons of his shirt were undone, with the robes that Kenma knew were part of the uniform missing, and his sleeves rolled up. Kuroo smirked, his half smile as unchanged as the dark hair Kenma knew he could never get to lie flat. Kenma always tried not to show emotion on his face, as soon as you smiled or frowned, you were basically asking for someone to talk to you, but he couldn't stop his eyes widening and his mouth opening just a little in shock. 

"Miss me?" Kuroo swaggered over and then, as if no time had passed at all, chucked Kenma a pack of toffees and nudged his legs. "Move up."

Kenma immediately brought his knees up to his chest and stared at Kuroo who sat down on the edge of the bed and stared at him with a raised eyebrow. 

"You gonna take those?" 

Kenma looked down at the packet of toffees, lying on the bed in between him and his old childhood friend. Slowly he reached out and took it, still shocked at Kuroo's unexpected appearance. They hadn't talked in over five years, but Kuroo had been the only person Kenma had considered a best friend, and when he had stopped answering his letters, it had stung. Kuroo was the only person Kenma had sent a Howler too. Not that Kuroo had answered that anyways. Kenma didn't say anything and just stared at the toffees in his hand. He didn't understand. But then again, there were only so many magic schools. And fate as she was, of course he would end up at the same one as Kuroo. If this had happened four, even three, years ago, he would have been happy. But there too many answered letters between them for him to feel anything but the sting of rejection and the hurt of being ignored. 

But he didn't say anything. He would never bring it up. It had happened, and he had moved on, or at least he didn't stay up until midnight anymore in the hope that a black owl might soar in and give him some indication that he hadn't been discarded. But none came. He bit his lip, still staring at the toffees. It was probably just a coincidence. If Kuroo couldn't even be bothered to answer his letters, why would he be bothered to remember Kenma's favourite sweet?

"Kenma?" Kuroo was looking at him, a tiny, near invisible crease between his eyebrows, "you okay?"

"Fine," Kenma said quietly, his thumb picking at the wrapping of the pack of sweets, as he looked at the rows of empty beds to his right.

"It's been awhile." Kuroo didn't seem bothered, leaning against the back of Kenma's bed and bringing one leg up on the bed, Kenma feeling a dip in the mattress with the added weight.  

Kenma didn't answer, still determined not to look at him. Okay, maybe he wasn't over it. 

"Oh." Kuroo didn't sound upset, rather amused. "Kenma, are you ignoring me?" 

Kenma pointedly didn't say anything, and stared even more resolutely at the bed opposite him. So far he'd counted seven crinkles in the sheets and three on the pillow cover. He was also pretty sure he'd seen a bowtruckle, but that was more probably his wishful thinking. 

"You are ignoring me," Kuroo sounded pleased for some reason that was completely out of Kenma's sphere of understanding, although as far as Kenma's sphere of Kuroo went, it was very very small. "Well, well, well. We will have to see how long you can keep it up."

Kenma suddenly felt awfully lot like he was a little rabbit about to be eaten by a wolf. He felt Kuroo press down on the mattress and it suddenly sprung back up. Kenma turned his gaze back to the toffee's in his hands and eyed the now empty space where Kuroo had been sitting. 

"I'm off," Kuroo's voice came from somewhere uncomfortably close, above him and suddenly Kenma could feel hot breath on his ear and he jerked back. 

He gaped up at Kuroo who only grinned with a little wink, "see you later Kitten."

Kenma gritted his teeth but resisted the urge to scowl, and simply stared ahead as Kuroo walked out of the room. Kuroo had better things to do than bother him, if he just ignored him, then he would leave him alone. There was a small uncomfortable twinge in his stomach at the thought of Kuroo completely ignoring him, because letters was one thing, but in person was another. But it was Kuroo who had stopped answering him, and he didn't want to be tossed aside again.

Kenma felt a little nip through the fabric of his shirt and he winced. 

"Okay, okay," Kenma gently pulled the Jarvey out from around his neck and onto his lap, and began to stroke it, rubbing circles around its ears. 

As tense as the encounter with Kuroo had made him, at least it had completely distracted him from what had happened, so when Madame Pomfrey arrived, giving Sphinx a rather disapproving glance, and asked him if he was okay, he answered a quiet yes. Madame Pomfrey hadn't seemed convinced but as she couldn't see anything wrong with him, she finally let him go and he made his way down the stairs, idly wondering where the Charms classroom could be. Just as he was about to give up and try to find his way back to the dorm room, he felt something run into his side and he and whatever it was crashed into the ground.

"Ow," it turned out what had crashed into him wasn't an 'it' but a 'he'. 

Kenma pushed the boy off him and winced slightly as he pressed his elbow, there was going to be bruise there later. 

"You stupid ginger!" Sphinx popped his head out of Kenma's collar and immediately began cursing the boy who was still wincing. 

At those words the boy immediately turned around, and his eyes went wide when he saw Kenma sitting there. He jumped up and immediately bowed, "I'm so sorry! I didn't see you! I didn't hurt you did I?"

Kenma shook his head and the boy held out his hand, "here let me help you up."

"Thanks," He took the offered hand and quickly regained his feet as the boy stared at Sphinx's head that was still sticking out. 

"Is that a real jarvey?" he asked and Kenma nodded. "Woah."

Kenma shuffled a bit and the other boy who was busy readjusting his red and gold tie, bent down and picked something up. 

"Are these yours?"

It was the pack of toffees. Kenma hesitated but nodded and the boy gave them back to him with a bright smile. 

"My name's Hinata Shouyou."

"Kenma Kozume. Kenma is fine," he said before the other could say anything. 

"Okay!" Shouyou looked delighted. "You can call me Shouyou."

"Aren't you late?" Kenma wasn't sure what time classes started but he was pretty sure that time was past. 

"Damn! I don't have an excuse," Shouyou looked scandalised and then stared at Kenma. "Are you new?"

He nodded.

"Do you know where you're going?"

"Charms," Kenma offered, because he did know where he was _supposed_ to be going. 

Hinata nodded, "I've got Charms too! Follow me, the fifth years' Charms is in classroom–"

"I'm a sixth year," Kenma interrupted quietly, pretty sure Shouyou wouldn't hear but to his surprise, he did. 

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry!" he looked absolutely distressed, but Kenma as quickly reassured him was a common mistake.

"The sixth year classroom is that way," Shouyou pointed down the corridor, "second door on the right."

"Thank you," Kenma gave him a small smile and the boy waved at him cheerfully as Kenma began to make his way down the corridor. 

"Let's be friends Kenma!" he yelled suddenly and Kenma started and stared back at him, in total shock at the unexpected yell. 

Shouyou opened his mouth, obviously thinking Kenma hadn't heard, "let's be friends!"

Kenma stared at him some more and Shouyou deflated a little. 

"You don't want to?"

"No," Kenma's mouth moved on its own and Shouyou let out a small 'oh', "I mean, no I don't not want to."

Kenma tried to clear it up and stuttered, "let's be friends Shouyou."

"Okay!" Shouyou's mood changed as fast as the wind and he was beaming as bright as ray of sunshine within seconds. "Bye Kenma! Have fun!"

"Bye," Kenma waved hesitantly as Shouyou shot off down the corridor. 

Kenma turned back to face the way he was supposed to be going and let out his breath. What had just happened? Not totally dissimilar to being caught in hurricane he thought. But as the bright smiling face of the orange-haired boy popped into his mind he couldn't help but smile. A friend. He had made another friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is so late, I had to restore my phone and it lost all notes :'(


	4. The Champions Are Chosen

Iwaizumi and Daichi were sitting in the Gryffindor common room, with Noya and Tanaka sitting on the floor in front of them, legs folded as they leant over the small table, mumbling and grumbling over their homework, while Yamaguchi quietly scribbled into a leather-bound notebook. Iwaizumi was spinning his wand between his fingers, staring at the blank piece of parchment on his lap. 

"Done?" Daichi looked over at him and Iwaizumi shook his head. 

"Haven't even started."

As soon as he finished his sentence, Noya threw down his quill and twisted his body around to look at Iwaizumi with a large grin. 

"I agree completely."

Iwaizumi and Daichi looked at each other a little confused. 

"What?" Iwaizumi looked at Noya who was now in the process of closing his Potions book and shoved in to the side, right into Tanaka's head, who had been hunched down on the table. 

"Ow!" he looked up with a scowl and Noya waved his hand. 

"Sorry, sorry. But our dear Vice-Captain has given us a homework pass."

Tanaka immediately grinned and turned around to look at Iwaizumi who had already begun to shake his head. 

"No. That did not happen."

"Thank you so much," Tanaka shuffled around and brought his head to his knees, bowing down to Iwaizumi. 

"I never said that."

"You said you hadn't done your homework. Which would imply we don't need to do our own," Noya nodded happily. "I guess this means they've finally got rid of that stupid rule."

"They haven't," Yamaguchi said quietly then peered over his book at Tanaka who was rubbing his head and was back to glaring at his Herbology textbook, "do you want any help Tanaka?"

"Yes!" Tanaka immediately put his hands together, "please save me Yamaguchi!"

"Yamaguchi!" Nishinoya joined in, spinning away from Iwaizumi. "Please save _us_!"

"Don't do it for them," said Daichi somewhat disaprovingly and Yamaguchi shrank a little but before he could answer there was another yell. 

"Yamaguchi help me too pleeeeeaaaaaase!" Hinata burst into the common room, waving a Transfiguration textbook and a giant mushroom, the size of a small dog, with spindly little legs hobbling after him. 

"What the hell is that?!" Tanaka jumped up and Hinata ran to hide behind him, wailing. 

"I don't know! I was just trying to do a Vanishing spell." 

"Really Hinata?" Daichi glared at the mushroom that was tottering around the common room. 

"Not exactly scary though, is it?" Iwaizumi prodded it with his foot as it ambled past the sofa. 

"Eek!" Hinata let out a small screech and hid even more behind Tanaka. "Did it explode?"

"Of course not," Daichi rolled his eyes.

Nishinoya stood up and walked up to the mushroom. He crouched down and stared at it. 

"What are you doing?" Hinata peered out from behind Tanaka and whispered. 

"I kinda want one," Noya looked at Hinata then bounded over. "How'd you do it?"

"I don't know! I just wanted to make my Potions textbook vanish!"

The boys in the common room all stared at him. 

"I would have made it reappear again!"

"Well. Mission accomplished on the making your textbook vanish aspect," Iwaizumi observed the mushroom trying to unsuccessfully walk through the table.

"Please help," Hinata had come out of hiding and was now looking sadly at his former textbook, "Professor Ukai is gonna kill me!"

"Professor Ukai couldn't care less about potions. Just don't try and vanish your broom and you'll be fine," Nishinoya nodded wisely, and then patted Hinata's shoulder. "As for you potions textbook, I say we keep it!"

"I concur!" Tanaka raised his hand. 

"We could try and turn it back," Yamaguchi suggested but was immediately shushed by the two. 

Iwaizumi looked over at Daichi, ultimately, he was the one who was going to have the last say. He was watching the mushroom, who had finally given up on walking through the table, and was now plodding, very slowly, around the common room. 

"Leave it," He said eventually. "With you three's magic who knows what could happen?"

That, Iwaizumi concurred, was a very good point. 

"Yes!" Nishinoya and Tanaka pumped their fists, the former immediately running over to pick it up. 

He turned so that he was facing the rest of the common room and raised it over his head. 

"I hereby name you: Mushouyou!"

Mushouyou did nothing but feebly move its stick-like legs and Nishinoya put it down to the loud applause of Hinata and Tanaka, and the hesitant clapping of Yamaguchi. Mushouyou once again began making his way around the common room. 

"What are you going to do with it?" Yamaguchi asked, still curled up on the armchair and gently turning Mushouyou around before he could run into the leg of the chair. 

Noya shrugged and sat back down with his homework, Tanaka following suit. "We'll think of something."

"What about my textbook?" Hinata said quietly, slumping down on the floor opposite the two. 

"I'll lend you mine. And Vanishing spells tend to wear off after a day or two." Iwaizumi smiled as Yamaguchi tried to offer some comfort to his friend, who immediately perked up and stared up at him with large shining eyes, Noya and Tanaka on the other hand, looking highly distressed. 

"Really?" Hinata said brightly.

Yamaguchi nodded and Nishinoya let out a howl of dismay.

"No!"

"Mushouyou is going to die?!" Tanaka let his head fall against the table. 

"Technically he's not even alive," Yamaguchi said, "things that are 'brought to life' by magic only give off that illusion. They aren't actually living breathing things."

"Yamaguchi. Enough yamababble," Noya waved a hand and stared at him seriously.

Yamaguchi swallowed nervously, he was fine when he just had to recite facts, but the sudden intensity of Nishinoya's stare was obviously making him a little uncomfortable. 

"Tell us," Noya looked at him seriously. "Can we save him?"

"Um," Yamaguchi looked unsurely at Noya. "I don't know?"

"Yamaguchi. Please," Tanaka looked at him. "For Mushouyou."

"Let him be," Iwaizumi cut in as Yamaguchi began looking more and more pained. "You're supposed to be studying NEWTs next year. Stop asking younger years for help."

He reprimanded the two of them lightly and they went grudgingly back to staring over their pages. 

"Hinata," said Daichi as the younger boy continued to sit, simply staring at the enlarged mushroom stumble around the room. "Do some work."

He looked up at Daichi with a small confused frown, "I thought they got rid of the rule?"

Daichi let out an annoyed sigh, "the only reason Professor Ukai implemented that rule was because he was getting so many complaints because _some people_ were using Quidditch practice as an excuse not to do homework."

The headboy looked pointedly at Tanaka and Nishinoya who, just as pointedly, chose not to answer. 

"They'll probably only get rid of it once those people leave," Iwaizumi said, grinning at Hinata, "then maybe you'll be able to practice without needing to pass most of your classes."

"Until then," Daichi pointed at the table, "work. We can't have our best players not make the team this year."

Hinata sat up straight, a large smile spreading across his face at Daichi's words. "Yes sir!"

He ran off and quickly came back, his arms piled with various textbooks and parchment and he let them fall on the table. Iwaizumi smiled as the three boys began working away, muttering and mumbling to themselves as they did, asking Yamaguchi or Daichi, and sometimes himself, for help every now and then. 

"How do you know this stuff anyways?" Iwaizumi questioned, after Yamaguchi had given both Noya and Tanaka a little bit, or a lot, of direction and Hinata some advice on how Vanishing spells were actually supposed to work. 

Yamaguchi looked a little surprised that the Iwaizumi had spoken to him and hesitated a little. The latter raised his hands with an easy smile. 

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"Oh no!" Yamaguchi went a little red. "It's just embarrassing."

Iwaizumi waited to see if he would continue. Yamaguchi bit his lip and looked over at Tanaka and Noya, who had begun to argue over the best use of Devil's Snare; Noya petitioning for planting them in the Slytherin common room and Tanaka firmly asserting that they should instead send them in potted plants. Daichi, it seemed, had given up on telling them off or he was just confident they would never be able to pull it off, as more than likely they'd find themselves in the Hospital Wing before any Slytherins would. 

"I read a lot of magical books when I was younger," Yamaguchi smiled a little, "my mother always said I had more magic in my head than in my wand"-which Yamaguchi knew was truer than he liked to think-"I guess I was kind of a late bloomer. My parents didn't think I had magic until my letter came."

Iwaizumi nodded. It wasn't common what Yamaguchi was talking about, but neither was it unheard of. Some people, like he said, were just late bloomers, their magic not showing itself until they were older, sometimes even in their teens. 

"Looks like you're well ahead of everyone else now," Iwaizumi nodded at table and Yamaguchi smiled shyly but didn't say anything, turning back to his notebook. 

He was a good kid. Iwaizumi turned back to his paper and the smile on his face disappeared. God, he hated ancient runes. Just before he could start trying to write down what he could remember from the earlier lesson, his thoughts were interrupted. 

"Have you mind up your mind on the Tournament?" Daichi was looking at him and Iwaizumi nodded. 

"I'm not going to enter. Turns out classes were more intense than I thought."

"Really?" Daichi seemed a little surprised and Iwaizumi shrugged. 

"Like I told Oikawa, there's not much point entering, especially in your last year. The chances of getting chosen are pretty much zero."

"Then why not?" 

Iwaizumi looked at his captain, "have you entered?"

Daichi nodded slowly. "Yeah."

Iwaizumi looked at him, "I thought you didn't want to."

Daichi looked away, "Well, like you said, the chances of getting chosen are almost zero."

"Your new friend always seems pretty excited about the Tournament," Said Iwaizumi mildly. 

"You mean Suga?" Daichi's face lit up with a smile.,"he is actually."

"I see," Iwaizumi smiled to himself. "I'll leave it to you then."

Daichi nodded, "if you're sure. You've got until tomorrow morning if you change your mind."

Iwaizumi nodded, "thanks."

________________________________

Yaku watched as Eggbert flew around Bokuto's head, the Hufflepuff captai excitedly recounting how he had put his name in the Goblet of Fire. Which had involved him giving his name to his owl and having him drop the piece of paper into the Goblet. It had taken them five tries to get it in. 

"Did you put your name in Kageyama?" Yaku asked the silent boy sitting next to him. 

Kageyama nodded but didn't say anything and Yaku smiled to himself. Kageyama wasn't really the chatting type, until it came to Quidditch that was. 

"I wonder who'll get picked," Yaku mused to himself.

"Probably a Gryffindor," Asashi answered anyways. "Noya said he entered everyone in Gryffindor who was eligible."

"Please tell me he asked their permission," Yaku looked at Asashi with a raised eyebrow and the latter frowned thoughtfully.

"He didn't mention."

"No. I don't suppose he would have." 

Yaku shook his head ruefully and turned back to the front, where Professor Ukai (affectionally known, much to his dismay, as Ukai Sr) and his son, also Professor Ukai were talking animatedly. Finally, Professor Ukai stepped forward and clapped his hands. 

"Listen up everyone!" 

His voice echoed through the hall and everyone quietened down, Bokuto finally sitting down and Eggbert landing on his shoulder. 

"Maybe it's about the Quidditch Cup!" Bokuto said excitedly leaning forward. 

"You all should have put your names in if you wanted to enter the Tournament by now," Ukai waved his hand, and on the podium next to time the silver Goblet appeared, the light blue flame flickering. "If you haven't, it's been two weeks, so tough."

A ripple of laughter ran through the hall and Ukai raised a hand. 

"Now on to more important matters."

The conversation in the Hall rose, and Yaku pursed his lips. What could possibly be more important than an age-old Tournament that was finally being held at Hogwarts again?

Ukai cleared his throat, "this year, we _will_ be holding the Quidditch Cup!"

'Yes!" Bokuto jumped up and Yaku could see out of the corner of his eyes Kageyama making a fist and discreetly pumping it, and was that a smile?

He rolled his eyes. He could only imagine what the other tables were like. There were Quidditch maniacs in every House this year. 

"I'm glad," Asashi let out a small chuckle. "I was a bit nervous they would cancel it this year."

"Yakkun!" Bokuto pointed at him. "You're the Keeper!"

Yaku resisted the temptation to raise an eyebrow at his captain and just smiled, a little tightly, "I know. I've been the Keeper for the past five years."

"I guess that makes you a real Keeper," Shirofuku laughed loudly and silence dawned across the table. 

"Yes." Yaku didn't really have any words. "It does?"

Bokuto leaned forward, "you're the Keeper, Yakkun."

"That's been made abundantly clear."

Bokuto ignored him and kept talking, "as the Keeper you need to scope out the competition!"

"Isn't that the Captain's job?" Shirofuku asked and Bokuto waved his hand. 

"The captain's job is to lead the team! To inspire! To rouse! To–"

"To shut up and sit down," Yaku interjected. "Please _captain_."

"Okay. But remember your mission," Bokuto slowly sat down as Ukai began to speak again. 

"I'm sure you're all excited. Still withstanding, if your class results are disappointing to your teachers you are not allowed on the team. And one more thing, even if you're not from Hogwarts, seeing as you're staying here and all got sorted into Houses, you can try out."

Everyone in the Hall cheered and Bokuto immediately jumped up again. 

"New kids! Hands up if you play!"

A few of the non-Hogwarts students hesitantly raised their hands and Bokuto leant over Shirofuku's head towards them, his eyes glowing. 

"You're all coming to try-outs!"

"Yeah!" A tall gangly boy with mostly blonde hair and two errant strands of brown yelled out enthusiatically and Bokuto pointed to him. 

"That's what I like to hear."

Yaku sighed but then smiled, at least everyone was happy. And he was pleased too, he may not be a Quidditch enthusiast in the same way his captain was, but he did love the sport, and it was a relief he wouldn't have to deal with Bokuto's moping or Kageyama's brooding, which would have been awful. 

"Alright everyone! Calm down!" Ukai Sr was standing up and his son made his way to back to his seat. "I hope you all enjoy Quidditch this year however we also have the champions to choose."

Once again, the Hall loudened and Yaku stared at the headmaster who approached the cup and passed his hand over the blue flames. They roared, immediately bursting to life, now blazing a dark blue. Yaku watched, impressed. 

"I've always wondered what would happen if you poured water over that," Asashi suddenly whispered to him.

"I knew you were spending too much time with Nishinoya," Shirofuku said in a reprimanding tone, and then stuffed a bread roll in her mouth. 

"Just watch," Yaku waved them both off and continued to stare up at the teachers' table. 

"The Goblet will now choose three champions," Headmaster Ukai took a step back as something flickered in the flame of the cup. 

A small piece of maroon coloured paper flew up out of the cup and then fluttered back down. Professor Ukai Sr nimbly picked it out of the air to some scattered applause and few whistles of admiration and he turned to face the front. He unfolded the piece of paper and read it out. 

"The champion from Dumstrang is," he paused and then called out, "Alisa Haiba!"

Yaku put his hands together and looked around and then was surprised when he heard the applause around him swell. He turned around to see a tall girl with silver hair standing up with a bright smile on her face. He grinned happily and clapped harder. A Hufflepuff in the Tournament was a good thing, even if they were from a different school. Alisa made her way to the front, a bright bounce in her step, Yaku could just about see the Hufflepuff coming off of her. She shook hands with the headmaster and Professor Takeda guided her out of the room. 

The cup flared again and this time, a violet piece of paper was spat out. Once again, Ukai Sr picked it out of the air and unfolded it. 

"From Beauxbatons, Kenma Kozume."

There was a stir at the Slytherin table and Yaku looked over to see Kuroo getting pulled back down to the table by Oikawa with loud cheering from Ravenclaw as a small boy with died blonde hair that made Yaku think of a pudding, quickly made his way up to the table. Yaku smiled a little, between him and Alisa, there couldn't be any more difference. The Beauxbatons boy shook the headmaster's hand, his head down and was obviously only too pleased to follow Professor Takeda out of the Hall. 

"Finally from Hogwarts," the headmaster of said school turned back to the Cup as its flames roared again, a golden paper was flung into the air and caught, "Wakatoshi Ushijima!"

The entire Hall burst into applause, Ravenclaw table being particularly rowdy. The tall Quidditch captain stood up and made his way up, striding confidently, surely and silently. He shook Ukai Sr's hand and then followed Professor Takeda out. 

"Wow," Said Asashi, "those are the champions."

"They're so cool!" Bokuto jumped up and down excitedly and then paused. "But do we cheer for Alisa or Ushijima?"

"We should cheer for Ushijima! We want a Hogwarts champion!" Shirofuku reprimanded him. 

"But a Hufflepuff champion would be so awesome!" Bokuto yelled.

"I think that was the point of sorting them into Houses. The Triwizard Tournament is more about learning about other schools and making connections than actually competing. I think this way they were hoping instead of focusing in the competition, we would focus more on making friends," Yaku said pensively. 

"That was a lot of words," was Bokuto's response and Yaku wondered why he even bothered. 

"Yaku's right. Last time they held the Tournament, things got so heated between the schools, teachers had to patrol the corridors during lunch and stuff. To make sure we wouldn't hex each other," So Inouka, a fifth year who was best known for trying to bring a dog as his pet for three years running. 

"Woah! That sounds awesome!" Kanji Koganegawa, whom Yaku believed came from Dumstrang was staring at Inuoka with wide eyes. 

"It's not awesome. It's dangerous," Yaku said to the both of them and Shirofuku giggled. 

"What?" he asked. 

"Nothing," she shook her head. "You're just such a mum Yaku, it's funny."

 ________________________________

Kenma was nervously biting the nail of his thumb as he sat down on a wooden stool, swinging his legs back and forth. He was desperately trying to distract himself from the situation he had found himself in. Why wasn't it that since he had come to Hogwarts, things kept happening to him? It was like sitting under a waterfall. He looked around. It was a small room, just off the Great Hall. There was a table, with some stools around it, and some shelves on the walls with a few books and other magical bits and bobs. The other Champions weren't saying anything, Alisa was looking around the room with wide eyes, while Ushijima was just sitting on the stool without a word. 

"So you're Kozume right?" finally someone spoke and Kenma looked up to see Alisa Haiba leaning towards him with a bright smile. "I remember from the sorting."

He nodded and tried to say something to answer but his throat was too dry and nothing came out. He felt his face turning deep red as he quickly swallowed and shut it. Alisa laughed while Ushijima stared ahead. 

"You're so cute! No need to be shy Kozume. We'll be spending a lot of time together!" Alisa was happily chatting away as Kenma hid behind his hair, going back to nervously chewing on his thumb when Ushijima suddenly spoke. 

"That's unhygienic." 

Alisa stopped her chatting and turned to the stern-looking boy that had just spoken and Kenma immediately pulled his thumb out of his mouth. He knew the two of them were currently in the same House, but he was rather scared of Ushijima. He was very intimidating, tall and a had a sort of aura of superiority around him. Kenma was already uncomfortable enough being around people he didn't know, so to add onto that someone as intimidating as Ushijima he was very close to just giving up and letting himself spiral down into his anxiety. 

"What's your name?" Alisa asked curiously when it seemed that was all he was going to say.

"Wakatoshi Ushijima," he answered and Alisa's eyes widened. 

"Wait! You're pretty famous aren't you? Don't you have an assured place in a professional Quidditch team when you graduate?!" Alisa's voice got louder and she clapped her hands in excitement. "My little brother's a massive fan. He's got to be so excited right now! I had no idea you went to Hogwarts!"

Kenma bit his lip and resisted the temptation to put his fingers over his ears. Instead his hands moved to the pockets in the sides of his robes, where his fingers brushed against some paper. With a small frown he pulled whatever it was out. It was the packet of toffees Kuroo had given him. He hadn't talked to his former friend, not for two weeks since the breakfast debacle. Kuroo had tried, but Kenma had somehow managed to avoid him. Shouyou, it had turned out, had been like an angel sent from above. He was bright, he didn't mind Kenma not talking and didn't seem to find him weird or annoying. If Kenma had doubted Shouyou genuinely wanting to be friends with him, he didn't anymore. But even with Shouyou, and Akaashi, he would still feel his thoughts, gnawing at the back of his head, to forgive Kuroo. Kuroo had been his first friend, and maybe he taking it too seriously, they were just letters. But it had still hurt and even when he had gone back home for the holidays, it had turned out Kuroo had moved. And he hadn't even told Kenma where he had gone. 

His eyes were beginning to sting, and he angrily shoved the toffees back into his pockets. That was years ago. Why couldn't he be over it already? It was so long ago, but his mind was like a broken record, refusing to let go of the hurt even if it had over half a decade ago. Alisa was still talking to Ushijima, although the conversation was almost entirely one-sided as Kenma hadn't heard him answer with any more than three words while she excitedly and animatedly asked him questions about brooms and various other Quidditch-related things. Kenma slowly managed to calm himself down, quietly breathing through his nose so that he wouldn't attract any attention to himself. He got his erratic heart back under control, and the shaking in his fingers that he hadn't even noticed, had finally stilled. 

"Kozume, you look a little pale," Alisa looked at him, switching her attention from Ushijima to him. "Are you feeling okay?"

Kenma nodded quickly, "I'm fine."

"If you're sure," she smiled, "we all have to take care of each other."

"We are competitors," Ushijima put in and Alisa clapped her hands.

"I know! And it's super exciting! But it has to be fair fight right? It would be really sad if one of us fell sick and couldn't compete properly," her eyes widened with dismay. "Or even at all. That would be so heartbreaking wouldn't it?" 

Kenma thought that he probably wouldn't be overly upset if he found himself unable to compete. In fact, he couldn't believe he had even entered the competition. Just as he was mulling over his thoughts, the door opened and in stepped the Headmaster of Hogwarts, followed by a few unfamiliar teachers. Alisa immediately stopped talking and sat up straighter, and Ushijima well, looked at them. Kenma watched as they made their way to the front of the room. Headmaster Ukai, Kenma believed was his name, turned to face them. 

"So, these are the champions," he looked at each of their faces then grinned. "Looks like this'll be an interesting one."

Alisa looked delighted, "I agree sir!"

Neither Ushijima or Kenma said anything, for which Kenma was actually grateful, for if the older boy had said something, he would have feel forced to say something too. There were a few moments of silence until one of the teachers, who to Kenma looked more like a student than a teacher, with curly brown hair and glasses leaned forward and whispered something to the headmaster. 

"Oh yes," he clapped his hands, "the rules. Ittetsu, you can explain all that. Good luck champions, remember, nothing in this world is definite."

With those words, he tried to walk out of the room but the other professor, who couldn't look more different than other with bleached hair and Kenma was pretty sure he had piercings along his ears, that had entered the room with him grabbed his shoulder. 

"Shouldn't it be the headmaster's job to explain the Tournament?" he asked with a scowl and the Hogwarts' headmaster glared at him and then suddenly grinned. 

"My dear son, you can help Ittetsu if this matters so much to you, "he turned to the champions. "Professor Takeda and Ukai will explain everything."

He removed, Kenma now knew to be his son's hand from his shoulder and strode out of the room, leaving a seething Professor Ukai and baffled looking Professor Takeda behind him. Suddenly Ukai Sr. pocked his head back in through the door and looked pointedly at Kenma and Alisa. 

"Your heads will be joining us soon. Tradition," he looked a little disgusted at the word but quickly left again.

There was some more silence until Professor Takeda began to speak with a nervous laugh. 

"I suppose you're all curious about the Triwizard Cup," he pushed his glasses up his nose. "You know, it's a great honour to be chosen as a champion. You should all be excited."

"Yes! I can't believe it!" Alisa let out a loud cheer. "It's so cool!" 

Professor Takeda looked at Ushijima and Kenma. 

"I'm excited," Said Ushijima monotonously and with a poker face and Takeda swallowed. 

"That's, that's great! Um, anyways, the rules," he cleared his throat and straightened but before he could start Ukai tapped his shoulder and Takeda looked at him. "Is there something wrong?"

"No," the taller man shook his head and then looked at the champions. "I just want to say, don't let this tournament stop you from doing Quidditch. Because–"

"Yes. Of course you may do extra-curricular activities, and your classes will continue as usual, however you really should concentrate on the–"

"On what's really important," Ukai interrupted Takeda. "Quidditch is–"

"Great. But can I please talk about the Tournament?" Takeda looked at Ukai with a small frown and the other professor quickly nodded. 

"Oh, yes, of course. Go ahead."

"The rules of the Tournament are simple. There are champions, and you will all compete in three trials. The winner of the Cup will receive glory and bring honour to their school."

"And a prize," Ukai added in quickly as the three champions listened to Professor Takeda explain. 

Kenma had never thought he would be chosen, so he had no idea what the Triwizard Tournament actually was. So they had to go through trials, three of them. At least there weren't four, he supposed. All he had to do was get three obstacle courses or magic test or whatever the trial could be, and then he could back to his usual school life. He wasn't going to be the winner, so he didn't need to worry about receiving the glory and honour, which he was sure would go hand in hand with attention. 

"The heads of Beauxbatons, Dumstrang and Hogwarts will be the judges of the competition, with a fourth impartial judge who is still to be decided. Most likely, they will arrive next month, which is when the first trial is to be held."

Alisa let out a gasp and Kenma's eyes widened, Ushijima was as usual, cool as cucumber. A month? That was so soon. 

"You will only be allowed a wand," Professor Takeda continued, "and you must get your wands weighed before then. You will be told when the ceremony is."

"What about the first trial? To we get to know what it's about?"

The two professors looked at each other and Professor Takeda shook his head. "I'm afraid not. But I'm sure you'll all do fine. There's no need to worry."

Kenma bit his lip. That was very easy for someone who was merely going to be watching from the sidelines to say. He would have thought they would have least given them a clue of what the trials were going to be. But nothing? How was one supposed to prepare for something when they had no idea what that something was? Professor Takeda looked at all of them with a smile. 

"I'll let you all back to your dorms. I'm sure your friends are all anxious to talk to you."

"And don't forget try-outs are tomorrow," Professor Ukai said quickly as they all stood up to leave. 

Alisa nodded, "I'll be sure to do my best."

Kenma nodded at the two professors and mumbled a quiet 'thank you' before attempting to make run for it. He made it out of the room and was about the breathe a sigh of relief at finally being free from having to interact with strangers when a deep voice called him back. 

"Kozume." 

Kenma looked over his shoulder and hoped his face remained at its usual neutral despite the drop he felt in his stomach. Ushijima obviously expected him to answer so he slowly dragged his feet over to the other boy. He belatedly noticed their similar robes, both having blue and bronze lining with a similarly coloured tie, yet his were half the size of the other. He wondered if he answer a 'yes' but then thought it was probably too late anyways. He stopped when he felt that he was close enough that he wouldn't have to strain if Ushijima spoke with a normal voice but far away enough that he had a headstart if Ushijima suddenly decided he wanted to pick off the champions outside the trials. Kenma wasn't entirely sure where that thought had come from, but like most of his other irrational thoughts it refused to follow logic and just plain old common sense. 

Ushijima suddenly held out his hand and Kenma stared at it in surprised. Was he really supposed to take it? Hesitantly he reached out and shook it. 

"We are from the same house."

Kenma briefly wondered how Ushijima would take him answering 'I know' before deciding against it and just nodding. He perhaps wasn't feeling as uncomfortable before, but he was definitely looking forward to whenever this weird and awkward not really a conversation type thing was over. 

"I hope you are a worthy competitor."

"What?" Kenma looked at him blankly. 

"Testuro Kuroo thinks highly of you."

Kenma almost said 'what' again but managed to hold himself back. He was thoroughly confused. Ushijima didn't even seem bothered that Kenma hadn't responded. 

"Goodbye." 

Ushijima walked off and Kenma was left standing, simply staring at where the other boy had been just seconds ago. Worthy competitor? He swallowed. What had he done? The Triwizard Cup was serious. And he now knew how big it was. The champions were going to get a lot of attention. He had just interacted with more people just this past week than perhaps his entire school life. 

"Kozume?" Alisa came out of the room. "You're still here? I was just asking some questions to the professors."

She smiled at him and looked around. 

"Ushijima left? That's not very nice! I thought you two were in the same house. You could've walked together," she chatted away and Kenma once again felt trapped. 

But of course he didn't say anything. 

"I'll walk back with you!"

Kenma didn't know very much about Hogwarts but he did know that the Hufflepuff common room and dorms were nowhere near the Ravenclaw ones. Should he mention it? He opened his mouth to tell Alisa that she needn't go out of her way when she started to talk again. 

"I actually knew you from before you know," she looked down at him. "Didn't you bring a jarvey to breakfast a few days ago?"

How Kenma wished that could be his only legacy, as painful as that experience had been. But now he was a champion in the Triwizard Cup. Oh joy. 

"And then..." Alisa started to laugh. "Oh my god, it was so hilarious! Nothing like that has ever happened at Dumstrang. Everyone's always so serious!"

Kenma wouldn't have been able to tell. 

"So Kuroo and you must be friends right? Were you pen pals or something?"

Kenma froze and then looked at Alisa silently. How could she possibly know that? He cleared his thoughts and then shrugged. 

"I don't really know him," he said softly. 

Alisa frowned a little. "That's so weird. Why would he stupefy Terushima. Unless..."

She clicked her fingers. 

"He hates Terushima!"

Kenma's thoughts were spinning. Kuroo was the one who had been stupefied Terushima? He had wondered but he had thought it had just been someone pulling a prank. Why on earth would Kuroo have stupefied him? Was it because Terushima had cursed him? He bit his lip and cast his eyes up the portraits lining the staircase. He wished he understood people better. 

"Wait. Isn't the Ravenclaw dorm in a tower? My gosh!" Alisa quickly changed the subject as they approached the stairs. "Why didn't you tell me? I almost made you walk down here with me."

She pointed to an opposite staircase leading down to, Kenma presumed, the Hufflepuff dorms. 

"Sorry," he said and she looked a little put out. 

He always did that. He could never just make people feel at ease. He always came off distant or awkward, but there was nothing he could do to help it. Alisa recovered nonetheless, and brightly bounced down the stairs, stopping to wave to him. 

"Bye bye Kozume! Good luck! I'll see you around!"

She turned around and disappeared down the stairs before he could answer. Kenma looked back at the portraits, most of them dozing off, and he began to make his way up the stairs. He took his time, he had a lot to think about. He had been chosen as a Triwizard champion, but for some reason his thoughts kept coming back to Kuroo. Before he knew it, he had reached the Eagle doorknob, that opened its beak as he arrived. Kenma didn't say it, but he secretly enjoyed the riddles the doorknob asked. He liked problem-solving, and this was it in purest form. 

"What always comes, but never arrives?"

Kenma thought for a second, "tomorrow."

The door swung open and after a little hesitation he stepped inside. He could faintly hear the noise of talking from up in the common room. There was probably a party of sorts, to celebrate Ushijima being chosen as champion. Kenma could only be relieved the Tournament wasn't being held at Beauxbatons, otherwise he would have been forced to deal with something like that. As it where, Hogwarts, and even Ravenclaw, would want to support their own champion, so hopefully they would just ignore him and he could go to bed. He was suddenly feeling extremely tired. 

________________________________

Once again, Michiyima had to deal with an over-emotional boy. Why? Why hadn't she been sorted into Gryffindor? Every day she envied Sawamura, being with Noya, Tanaka and Hinata seemed like fun. They were always happy and cheerful, whilst everyone in Slytherin was always moody. Maybe it was just the difference between houses. But then shouldn't she be in the happy and cheery house? She was fun. 

"I can't fucking believe this," Kuroo growled out, walking back and forth across the common room floor. 

Michiyima sighed. Somehow they would always find themselves here: Kuroo, her, Terushima and Oikawa. Oikawa was dropped across one of the sofa's, while Terushima was in his usual spot in the armchair. Why on earth Michiyima had suddenly become a part of this small group was beyond her, but she knew it was too late for her to escape as she settled into the other chair. She had tried not spending the evening in the common room, reading a book in her room instead, only for Terushima to burst in and steal her book, not giving back until she came downstairs. 

"I know! Ushijima is our champion," Oikawa dramatically dragged his hand across his face. "It's awful."

"At least Dumstrang've got a cute champion," Terushima grinned. "It'd be boring if there were nothing but guys."

Oikawa looked away from him with a disappointed sigh, "for you maybe."

"You're all missing the point," Kuroo glared at them and Michiyima shrank back a little, he was kinda scary when he was angry. "Kenma's the champion. He would never do something like this. He's obviously been set up.

Oikawa and Terushima looked at each other and then at Michiyima who shrugged. Up until today she didn't think any of them knew who Kenma Kozume was. But it was starting to look like Kuroo knew him from before he was chosen as the Beauxbatons champion. 

"So," Oikawa sat up, "first question: who is Kenma to you? And why is it so terrible he's been chosen as a champion? Isn't this a good thing?"

"Yeah," Michiyima nodded, "it's considered a great honour to be chosen for the Triwizard Cup."

Kuroo groaned and ran his hands through his already overly messy hair, "you don't know Kenma. He would never-"

"Volunteer himself for a competition that would ensure him fame and glory for the rest of his life," Terushima shook his head. "No, I can't really see anyone doing that."

"Not to mention the prize," Michiyima hated to agree with Terushima, but the priority here was calming Kuroo down before he did something stupid. 

Kuroo glared at them. Well, that hadn't worked. Oikawa suddenly whistled. 

"You still haven't answered the question Testuro."

Kuroo scowled and looked out the window, "he's a childhood friend."

"How come we've never heard about him before?" Terushima looked at Kuroo with an eyebrow raised.

"Because I don't talk to you about my personal life," Kuroo snapped.

"Woah alright. No need to stupefy me again," Terushima laughed to himself and then stopped. "Wait. Wasn't it the Kenma kid that brought that jarvey that tried to eat Dominatrix."

"Why you would ever call your pet something so embarrassing is really beyond me," Oikawa grimaced. 

"It is!" Terushima snapped his fingers and then pointed at Kuroo, "you've got the hots for him."

Kuroo let out a strained sigh, "I do not. I'm worried about him. And none of you would understand because none of you know him."

Michiyima could almost feel the anger emanating off the captain in waves, and neither Oikawa nor Terushima looked like they were going to do anything to help the situation. So once again, it fell to her. 

"Okay, okay," She shushed Terushima as he opened his mouth again, "that's enough. Captain, please try to relax."

"Michiyima is right," Oikawa walked over to Kuroo and patted him on the shoulder. "If you're worried just talk to him tomorrow."

"I need to talk to him," Kuroo nodded. "You're right."

He spun on his heel and marched right out of the Slytherin common room. Michiyima and Oikawa stared at each, her face she knew an expression of absolute horror, and his of mild curiosity. 

"What have we done?" She said and Terushima looked offended. 

" _I_ didn't do anything this time," he held up his hands. "And those dungbombs in Flitwick's office weren't me either before you start throwing accusations around."

Michiyima looked at where Kuroo had disappeared off to. 

"He's not actually going to see him is he?" 

Oikawa shrugged, "probably."

"But he's in Ravenclaw! And you're not allowed in the corridors."

"Kuroo's a prefect. Prefects get away with stuff."

Michiyima glared at Terushima, "that's not what being a prefect is about. And it's besides the point. Why would he storm off like that?"

"Maybe he's just jealous he didn't get picked and is taking out on some poor kid he used to hang out with," Terushima offered and Oikawa snorted. 

"Kuroo isn't you Terushima, he has morals."

"He would never take something out on a friend," Michiyima agreed with Oikawa. 

"I personally think  _we_ should go after him," Terushima pointed to the door. "So shall we?"

"Just because you think we should, I believe that we shouldn't," was Oikawa's answer as he flopped back onto the sofa.

"What?! Aren't you our captain's friend?"

"Yes. And as he friend I'm able to say that he is able to take care of himself."

Michiyima rubbed her temples. Was this really okay? Oikawa was partly right, Kuroo was a seventh year, it wasn't like it was his first or second year here. And he was a prefect and a captain, if that wasn't enough to prove he was responsible then what was? Michiyima eyed the prefect badge on Terushima's robe; then again. 

"It's too late," she decided. "He's probably already there by now."

Oikawa suddenly smirked, "the Ravenclaw dorm doesn't have a password."

Terushima frowned, "doesn't everyone just go in then?"

"They don't have a password." Oikawa repeated. "They have a riddle."

"Oh my lord," Michiyima felt like banging her head on the table, "he's going to be there all night."

Oikawa laughed, "I do believe he might be."

"Now we just have to go," Terushima said guffawing. 

"No we don't," Michiyima shook her head. "It's after hours."

"Come on, let's just go."

"No."

"We're prefects, no one'll care. Besides everyone's celebrating the champions being chosen, the teachers won't care."

Oikawa suddenly stood up and walked over to the window, "we're staying. What's Tetsuro's personal business is his own, let's not stick our noses where they don't belong."

Michiyima was pleasantly surprised to hear Oikawa say something so mature, only to have ruined by his next sentence. 

"I'll be interrogating him later in any case."

Terushima nodded and stood up from his armchair with his arms crossed, "please do."

"Please don't align yourself with me. It's making me feel dirty," Oikawa shooed him away as he made his way past the two of them. "I'm going to bed."

"Aren't we waiting for the captain to get back?" Asked Michiyima, feeling quite short-changed and Oikawa looked down at her as if she had just asked if Pluto was still considered a planet. 

"Kuroo is unlikely to be back anytime soon. Have you seen that boy trying to solve a crossword? He may be smart but he's got no problem-solving skills whatsoever."

With that, Oikawa disappeared up the stairs humming to himself as he did. Terushima watched him go with a small frown and then looked back at Michiyima. 

"He's so cheerful today. Did he finally make up with Iwaizumi?"

Michiyima shrugged. "He's probably still happy Kageyama's got detention for the entire month for being late to class on the first day."

"There never was a pettier man than Oikawa and his grudge against Kagayama," Terushima said poetically, as he flourished and then bowed.

"Amazing," Michiyima deadpanned and then stretched out her legs in front of her. "Oikawa's probably right. Kuroo's stubborn, if he wants to talk to his old friend he'll stay up all night if he has to."

Terushima paused and then nodded thoughtfully, "You're right. No point in staying up for him then."

Terushima followed Oikawa and Michiyima was left alone in the common room. She should probably be getting to bed soon but she didn't feel too tired just yet. She brought her legs back up on the arm chair, and few moments after she did, she felt something jump up onto them. Not to her great surprise, it was one of Kuroo's cat, curling up on her legs. It was a cute little kitten, fluffy and black with forest green eyes. 

"Hello," She cooed and held out her hand to stroke it, "ae you missing your owner?"

The kitten gave a little purr before jumping off her legs and trotting over to the sofa and curling up there. Michiyima smiled. 

"I guess I'm no substitute."

She slowly got up and made her way to her own dorms, her thoughts suddenly drifting to Oikawa and his continuing grudge against Iwaizumi. If there was a Triwizard trial that involved holding grudges, Oikawa would easily take home the jackpot. Michiyima didn't think she'd meant anyone who's memory was as selective as Oikawa's, he couldn't remember all the ingredients needed for a polyjuice potion, but all you needed to say was 'Tobio' and he could recall how Kageyama had almost set his brand new broom on fire in the younger boy's third year. Michiyima, and just about every single person on the planet, knew it to be an accident, but no one person could tell Oikawa any different than Kageyama had been out to sabotage him. Michiyima sometimes wondered, if Oikawa exaggerated everything Kageyama ever did to him to hide something else, a raw and deeply buried insecurity that not even he knew he had. 

But she knew he would get back together with Iwaizumi. Those two were like elastic bands, not matter how far apart it looked like they were stretched, they always managed to snap back together. Michiyima would be lying if she said she wasn't a little bit jealous of the relationship Oikawa and Iwaizumi had. There was no way she would ever want to be best friends someone like Oikawa, but the constant support Iwaizumi gave him, and the patience, Michiyima wanted someone like that. She didn't always want to have to be the one calming everyone down and holding it all together.  But the only person she could feel that way with was so overly oblivious, nothing would ever come of it. 

After all, she'd had an unrequited crush on Sawamura Daichi for over five years, why would anything change now?

________________________________

Akaashi was manoeuvring around his mostly drunk fellow housemates as he tried to find Kenma. He was pretty sure the boy should be back by now, after all, it had been three hours since dinner, and explaining the Tournament shouldn't have taken that long. And it was unlikely Kenma had got lost, in fact, Akaashi was pretty sure, the way to the Ravenclaw tower was the one thing Kenma knew, because he seemed totally and utterly unable to find his classes. Also Ushijima was back, so Kenma should also be back. Unless, he had wanted to talk to the professors or maybe Alisa, but even though Akaashi didn't know Kenma massively well, the boy didn't seem the type to enjoy idle chat. 

"Akaashi!" a bottle was shoved into his hand by an older classmate. "Drink up! Ushijima is gonna smash those champions!"

The boy ran off howling his head off and everyone cheered around him. Akaashi quickly made his way to the drinks table and put the bottle down. If Kenma wasn't down here, there perhaps he was in the dormitory. But surely, he would have seen him. Then again, Kenma was quite small, and he didn't really seem to like to be seen. Maybe, he had just wanted to some peace and quiet and ran off to bed. Akaashi couldn't blame him. He made his way up the stairs and then knocked on the door to their dorm room. 

"Kenma? You in here?" he thought he heard a little scuffle so he opened the door. 

He looked over to Kenma's bed, and saw some strands of blonde hair sticking out from the covers. He walked over and whispered. 

"Are you awake?" 

Slowly Kenma's head emerged from the blankets and he moved up on his bed as he sat up. Akaashi sat down on the opposite end, and pulled his legs up so they were crossed in front of him. They sat in silence for a bit, Akaashi letting Kenma blink the grogginess from his eyes and clear up his probably sleepy thoughts. He watched the Beauxbatons boy out of the corner of his eyes. He looked tired, which was to be expected, but he was also looked worn out, but no in the way someone who had just run a marathon might be worn out, in the way that a cliff that was constantly beat on by the sea got years and years might look worn out. 

"You want to talk about it?" he asked after a few minutes and Kenma let out a sigh. 

"I shouldn't have put my name in," he said and Akaashi raised an eyebrow. 

"Why not?"

"Because," Kenma hesitated then spoke tiredly, "I didn't even really want to do it."

Akaashi didn't say anything for a bit then shrugged, "I didn't really either. I just put my name in because Bokuto wanted me to."

Kenma looked up at him, simply staring for a few moments then looking away. 

"But you weren't chosen."

"I'd never hear the end of it if I had been. Although I'll probably never hear the end of Ushijima being chosen as champion either," Akaashi ruffled his hair as his thoughts drifted to his longtime friend. 

The two didn't say anything for awhile, just sitting silently on the bed, but Akaashi could almost hear Kenma turning over his thoughts in his head. He knew that behind his rather blank face, Kenma did a lot more thinking than he did talking. And his thinking usually didn't show itself on his face either. So Akaashi could understand how quite a lot of people would avoid talking with him, because of his somewhat stilted way of talking or deadpan expression when you first met him. But Akaashi could tell Kenma was just shy, and maybe a little scared. He could also tell he was a Ravenclaw. People always thought being in Ravenclaw meant smart, and by smart they always though booksmart, which wasn't right. If it was, more than half their house would be gone. No, Kenma was a Ravenclaw because he was sharp. Akaashi knew he didn't think so, but he had always been able to tell when a witch or wizard had something of an affinity for magic, and Kenma did. Even more than some purebloods Akaashi had met, and so he knew Kenma was right for Ravenclaw. Because having an affinity for magic wasn't knowing how to cast a spell, or a curse or a hex, it was about knowing your wand, really knowing it, and knowing how to use it. 

"Do you think I can do it?"

"The Tournament?" Akaashi shrugged with a small smile. "Why not?"

Kenma blinked, he had probably been anticipating somehow a little more concrete but Akaashi wasn't going to make his decisions for him. Whether or not he could participate in the Tournament was up to him, because Akaashi knew that he was magic-wise perfectly _capable_ of doing so, it just remained whether Kenma knew he was capable or not. Akaashi thought that it was the Ravenclaw way to let people find that sort of stuff out for themselves. He got down for Kenma's bed and smiled at him. 

"Get some rest. I'll see you in the morning."

Kenma nodded and slid down on his mattress, "bye."

Just as Akaashi was making his way to the door, to go downstairs and check no one had tried to prove their flying alternative to broomsticks did actually work and throw themselves out of the tower window, someone ran up the room and swung the door open. 

"IS YOUR NAME KENMA?!" he screamed at Akaashi's face and Akaashi let out a sigh. 

He hated it when people got drunk. 

"No. It is not." 

The standing in front of him looked stumped and then opened his mouth again and Akaashi braced himself. Fortunately, however, the guy seemed to have regained control of his volume and so spoke in a much more bearable tone. 

"Well then. If you happen to see a guy called Kenma. You can tell him. What can you tell. You tell him something. You tell him."

Akaashi waited patiently. 

"You tell him someone's at the door. Knocking. They can't get the door open. They've been there for. For. For. For minutes," the boy giggled and nodded. "Lots of minutes. But no one knows who Kenma is."

The boy began to laugh. 

"Like Kenma? Who is that? There's no Kenma here!" 

"You're right. So go bother someone else," Akaashi's patience had run out and he moved the boy's hand from the doorframe and closed the door. 

He quickly turned back and walked over to Kenma's bed. The boy was curled up around his covers, and Akaashi titled his head. Yes, just above Kenma's head, curled around on the pillow was a jarvey. Akaashi shook his head to himself, he was glad Kenma had fallen asleep so fast. What the boy had said hadn't been particularly hurtful, but Kenma was somewhat sensitive. In a strange way he didn't like interacting with people, and yet Akaashi could tell he cared deeply for what they thought of him. As for whoever was looking for him, Akaashi pondered whether it was true, or just some drunken musings. After some debating he couldn't see the downsides to checking, and so went downstairs. The party was still going on, although Ushijima had disappeared. Akaashi cut through the crowd and went to the door, he opened it and walked down a few steps to reach the magic door. He couldn't hear anything but opened it anyways. 

He jumped when as he opened it, he came face to face with Kuroo Tetsuro, staring intensely as the door as if his gaze would be enough to melt the eagle knocker right off. Akaashi had to admit, Kuroo had looked better. His shirt was half unbuttoned and his tie was hanging loosely around his neck, totally undone. His hair, that was usually quite messy on a normal day, was in total disarray. He looked just as surprised as Akaashi felt when he saw who it was that opened the door but he quickly recovered and flashed one of his usual 'I'm attractive and you're going to listen to me' smirks. 

"Akaashi. What a pleasant surprise."

"I wish I could say the same," he answered dryly and Kuroo put a hand over his heart. 

"You wound me." 

Akaashi wasn't nearly as close as Kuroo as he was with Bokuto, but the two spent so much time together he had got to know him quite well. And you couldn't really know Bokuto, without knowing Kuroo, they were birds of a feather, or fur of a cat, as Kuroo would always try to make work. Although Akaashi had to admit, Kuroo was prone to being a lot more sensible. At least that's what he'd thought. 

"What are you doing here?" Akaashi leant against the doorway and crossed his arms. 

"Looking for a friend," Kuroo smiled innocently. 

Akaashi raised an eyebrow, "getting lonely on the dungeon?"

Kuroo looked over Akaashi's shoulder, "maybe. Wanna invite a poor lonely Slytherin in?"

"Kuroo seriously," Akaashi sighed, "you're not supposed to be out of dorms."

"Akaashi," Kuroo tutted, "your entire house is _literally_ having a party right in front of me. A prefect."

"Come in," Akaashi ushered him in and could only be grateful everyone was too wasted to notice he dragging a Slytherin up to the dormitories. "Here."

He shoved Kuroo inside his dorm and then glared at him, "now explain."

"Who knew Bokuto's friend could get so feisty?" Kuroo said jokingly and Akaashi stared at him. 

"You're bordering an asshole again." 

"Oops," Kuroo grinned. "Sorry."

Akaashi looked pointedly at him and then swept his hand across in front of him, a universally agreed symbol for 'please explain your idiotic decisions to me and also why you would make them'. Kuroo, it seemed, got the message as he ruffled his hair and looked over out the window. But he still didn't say anything. Akaashi recognised that, it was the 'this is too personal for me to tell you' pose and aura, and he suddenly felt a lot better about the situation. Kuroo was obviously dealing with some personal problem, this wasn't some grudge or revenge plot, he was obviously just trying to work through some issues. At least that was Akaashi's guess, and he considered himself quite good at reading people. 

"Is this about Kenma?" Akaashi asked, lowering his voice a little and Kuroo's head whipped back to stare at him. 

"How did you know?"

"Some kid came running screaming about an idiot who couldn't get in wailing for Kenma to help him."

Kuroo looked offended, "I was not wailing. Slytherin's do not wail."

"Really?" Akaashi raised an eyebrow and said bluntly. "Sometimes I think it's all you guys do."

"Back to the point," Kuroo said. "Do you know where Kenma is?"

"Why?"

Kuroo looked a little annoyed but quickly smoothed over his facial expression, "because I would very much like to know."

Akaashi slowly let out another sigh and then looked at Kuroo again. He knew Kuroo well enough, and at the end of the day he trusted him, and even though he found the whole situation extremely odd, Kuroo wouldn't have snook out without a reason. At least, not if he was coming all the way to the Ravenclaw Tower. Also, he didn't think he'd ever seen the Slytherin prefect look quite as stressed, as good as he was at hiding it, as he did right now. 

"Okay," Akaashi nodded after a few seconds and Kuroo looked up at him. "He's over there."

Akaashi pointed to the lump in the blanket on the bed behind Kuroo who immediately turned back to glare at him. 

"He's asleep? Why were we talking while he was trying to sleep?"

"He's not _trying_. He _is_ asleep and he's a very deep sleeper," Akaashi answered bluntly, "and you're the one still talking."

Kuroo scowled and tiptoed over to the bed, looking down at the few golden strands that were peeking out from the blanket. 

"Right. Don't do anything stupid and just stay here. Lucky for you, the other three guys here were on the receiving end of some dungbombs in Flitwick's office so they're in the infirmary for the rest of week," Akaashi waved to the three other beds in the dorm. "Feel free to take one, karma says you'll get caught if you try going back now."

Kuroo nodded, "thanks."

Akaashi left the room and closed the door behind him. This was really quite weird. Obviously, Kuroo and Kenma had some history, but he had never seen the two together. Sure, it had only been two weeks since the term had started, but one would've thought old friends would have wanted to catch up. Akaashi shrugged, it wasn't really any of his business, he should just leave it to those two to sort it out. Although the thought of either Kenma or Kuroo trying to sort out emotional drama made Akaashi both want to laugh and wince. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Holidays!!


	5. Trials (and not just the Quidditch kind)

Kenma woke to the sun filtering through the badly closed curtains, and immediately squeezed his eyes shut. He still felt really tired and didn't want to move or get up yet. Kenma felt like there was something against his back, but it wasn't uncomfortable. Quite the opposite in fact, it was comfortingly familiar. He wriggled backwards slightly, so his back was pressed against it. It felt harder than a pillow, but softer than a wall. Probably his blanket had got bunched up in the night or something. Kenma mumbled to himself, and buried his face deeper into the pillow. He was so comfortable right now, he didn't want to get out of bed. But he had classes. But it was just so comfortable. He didn't see how five more minutes in bed could do any harm, so he buried deeper into the covers, and snuggled back into the warmth behind him. 

He lie there for a few seconds, his eyes closed and he slowly began to drift back to sleep. As he did, he groggily turned around and tried to bury his face into his blanket. Unfortunately it appeared that what he had thought was his blanket was in fact harder than his blanket. Much harder. 

"Ouch," he let out a whinge and almost on reflex pushed whatever it was as hard as he could. 

There was loud thump as it fell out of his bed, followed by a loud exclamation and Kenma jumped. No. Had it been a person? There had been a person in his bed? He was absolutely horrified and felt a little sick. No, no, no. He had trouble with people even touching him, much less someone sleeping with him. He'd only ever let Kuroo sleep next to him, and that had often been intentional. Kenma could hear whoever it was groaning and he had no idea how to deal with the situation. The most probably occurrence was that this person had been drunk, and just got into the young bed. Still, Kenma felt immensely stressed, and he folded his arms over his chest, rubbing his forearms to make himself feel better. 

"Wow Kenma. You could've just told me to get out."

Wait. He recognised that voice. Cautiously, Kenma wriggled forward and peeked over the edge of the bed. Sitting on the floor, looking extremely disgruntled was Kuroo.

"Kuroo?" Kenma's voice went high. 

"Yo," the boy held up a hand grinned at Kenma, "it's been awhile."

"What are you doing here?" Kenma was beginning to feel angry, he didn't understand why Kuroo had done that. 

Had he been trying to tease him or something? Kenma knew, back in the day, he had told Kuroo he didn't like sleeping next to strangers. Why couldn't he just leave him alone? Kenma was smart enough to know that he missed Kuroo. And he thought there was probably a small part of him that always would miss the first friend he had ever made, but that didn't mean he was a just going to run after Kuroo like a lost a puppy. 

"Looking for you," Kuroo stood up and brushed the dust off his trousers. 

Kenma didn't let any emotion show on his face, not the surprise nor the slight trace of hope, if Kuroo would just apologise, just one word, maybe he'd be able to put it all behind him. He just wanted him to acknowledge he'd done something wrong, that it wasn't just Kenma overreacting.  

"Why?"

Kuroo looked a little confused, "what do you mean why? You were chosen as a champion of the Triwizard Tournmanent. Kenma, do you have any idea how dangerous this thing is? And hundreds of people will be watching, I know I always used to tell you to get out there but this is–"

Kenma suddenly snapped, "what does it matter? Like you said you _used to_ tell me," He coldly looked at his old friend, "and that was all a long time ago."

Kuroo looked shocked. His mouth fell open but no sound came out. Kenma didn't know how long he could keep this up, he could feel the pressure building his eyes and his hands were starting to tremble again. He was so anxious, but he was angry too. If Kuroo had wanted to talk to him, he should have woken him and talked to him last night, or come this morning. And three beds were empty, he could have just slept on them. He _knew_ , Kenma knew he did, he knew how Kenma felt about other people sleeping with him. And yes, having Kuroo's warmth next to him had been familiar, and comfortable and was now bringing back memories of times spent dozing off at either his or Kuroo's house while playing video games. But things weren't the same, they had changed, and while Kuroo seemed to be able to ignore that, Kenma couldn't. 

"Kenma–" Kuroo tried again but Kenma shook his head, no longer be able to meet his eyes. 

"Could you please leave?" he asked, trying desperately to keep his voice level. 

Kuroo looked like he was going to say something but didn't. He slowly dragged his feet to the door, and Kenma made a concentrated effort not to turn around and watch him leave. He heard the door open, and the creaking of the hinges, but before it closed, Kuroo spoke again. 

"If you need me," Kenma almost turned around, but bunched his blankets into his hands and resisted the temptation, "I'll be right there."

The door clicked shut and Kenma felt the tension leave his body. He leaned forward so that his head was resting on the bed, taking deep breaths trying to calm himself. But he couldn't. He just couldn't. His heart wouldn't calm itself, and instead of his breathing evening it was becoming more erratic as sobs began to wrack through his body. Why couldn't he just put Kuroo behind him? Why did it still hurt so much? He didn't understand, he just wanted to feel what he said. He wanted it to feel like Kuroo being in his life had been a long time ago, so many people had come and gone, it wasn't like Kuroo was the first. So why did Kenma cling to his memory and he clung to the hope that it had all been some mistake, that Kuroo would explain it all in some way that would put his mind at ease. But he didn't, it was like he had even forgotten they used to write to each other in the first place. And each time he saw him, Kenma just wished he could put it all behind him, because more than anything, he just wanted to be friends again. 

But his mouth would move by itself. And he would say one thing, and wish for something completely different. How could Kuroo act like it was all okay? Kenma didn't understand. Hadn't it hurt? Even a little when Kenma had stopped replying? Kenma bit his lip, ignoring the slightly salty taste from his tears, who was he kidding? Kuroo wasn't like him. Kuroo had friends, he had hundreds of them. So what difference would one less talking to him make? He lifted himself up and began to rock back and forth. Then why did he want to talk to him again? Kenma swallowed and then hiccuped, he already knew the answer. Because he was Kuroo. Kuroo was just _not_ like him. 

As his heart calmed, his breaths began to lengthen, and his tears slowed to a halt. He stared blankly at the top of his bead. He had a headache. He didn't want to go to his classes today. The events of yesterday came crashing over him again and he keeled over to the side. The Tournament, he still had to take part in the Tournament. He had only put his name in because Shouyou had been so enthusiastic about it, and had almost been able to convince Kenma it might be fun. He let out a long breath, the tears having dried and now caking his face and making him feel like he'd been walking through a sandstorm. He should probably have a shower. 

He stepped down from the bed, and briefly wondered where Akaashi was. Probably busy dealing with something or other. He shouldn't rely on other people to help him. But surely Akaashi knew about Kuroo being here? Was he the one who had let him in? Kenma knew there was no way Kuroo would have been able to get past the knocker by himself. And Akaashi was one of the few people who actually knew who Kenma was, not to mention which dorm he was in. Kenma suddenly scowled. Enough. Enough thinking about Kuroo. 

Kenma took a quick and slowly pulled his uniform. He was pretty confident he had missed breakfast, and probably his morning classes too, but there was nothing he could do about it. He looked in the mirror, and the swelling around his eyes had gone down somewhat. At least they were no longer red. Now it just looked like he'd just woken up from a nap. He walked down the stairs and past the common room, which was unsurprisingly empty. He'd checked the time before he left, and there was five minutes of Potions left, and then he had Transfiguration. He figured he should probably just make his way to Transfiguration. 

With heavy footsteps, Kenma made his way down the Ravenclaw Tower, wishing he could turn back time and take his name out of the Goblet of Pure so none of this would ever have happened. Why was everything always so confusing?

______________________________

 

Yamaguchi didn't think there could be anyone that loved Quidditch more than the boys in Gryffindor did. Noya and Hinata in particular.

"So that's how I got it! Isn't it cool? It's so cool!" Hinata was basically bouncing off the walls as he recounted to Yamaguchi how he had managed to afford his brand-new broom, which he was now hugging to his chest.

Apparently he had got a part-time job at a volleyball club and had basically worked the entire holidays to be able to afford a Firebolt. Unfortunately though, in a way that was very Hinata, he'd gone and forgotten it and so had to ask his mother to send it to him, and it had only just arrived this morning.  

"Do you even need to try out?" Yamaguchi asked, "doesn't Daichi already know how good you are?"

Hinata looked at him with a red face and asked hesitantly. 

"You think I'm that good?" 

Yamaguchi stared at him in surprise. Was he serious? Most people had been practicing Quidditch for years to get to the level Hinata was at. He hadn't been able to afford a broom until his fourth year, and had made it onto the team with a Shooting Star and only two years of practice. Perhaps he wasn't yet up to par with some of the other players, but there was no denying he wasn't normal. Yamaguchi couldn't believe Hinata didn't see it. But then again, his friend had never been the most observant of people. 

"You're very good," Yamaguchi assured and Hinata immediately brightened. 

"Really?" he hugged his broom closer and grinned, "I still have to try out though. Captain always makes us try out. But I'm so happy we can still play with the Tournament happening."

"He likes to make us sweat," Noya came up behind the two, already dressed in his Keeper gear, "I don't think the team will be changing much this year though."

"Noya!" Hinata greeted the boy happily, "good morning."

"Morning," Noya hoisted his Nimbus broom over his shoulder. "Let's go kick some ass!"

Hinata cheered, "yeah!"

Yamaguchi smiled as they walked out onto the Quidditch pitch. He could already see Daichi and Iwaizumi, dressed in their red and gold uniforms, an opened trunk with the Quaffle, the Bludgers both straining to get free and even though Yamaguchi couldn't see it he was pretty sure the Snitch was in there somewhere in between the two of them. There was a group of students, some new faces, some faces Yamaguchi recognised from the team last year, and some he noticed where from the other schools. He looked up at the stands, there was quite a few students already there, from all the different houses. Probably there to either scope out the competition, or just waiting for their own Houses' try-outs. 

Yamaguchi waved off Hinata and Nishinoya with a 'good luck' and made his way up the stands. 

"Yamaguchi!" he heard his name and smiled when he saw Yachi waving at him. 

She was sitting next to a pretty girl with dark black hair and silver glasses. As Yamaguchi got closer, he realised that she was extremely beautiful, with startling grey eyes and sharp features. Her silver and bronze tie showed she was a Ravenclaw, although Yamaguchi would have guessed Ravenclaw or Slytherin just from her poised aura. His mother had always said to him the Houses were not clear cut, but most of the time Yamaguchi found it was pretty easy to tell who was in who. Except for him. He had never understood why the hat put him in Gryffindor. 

"This is Kiyoko," Yachi introduced the girl to him and he quickly bowed. 

"Hello," he mumbled and then managed to stutter out with a red face, "it's nice to meet you."

"Good morning," she said softly and bowed her head slightly. 

Yamaguchi sat down on the other side of Yachi, a little confused over how Yachi had suddenly made friends with a Ravenclaw student. And she looked like she was at least one year older than them. He  looked at her out of the corner of his eye and she mouthed to him -  _I'll tell you later._ He nodded and then turned back to the try-outs. It looked like things were finally beginning to start. Yamaguchi leaned forward a bit, he saw Hinata excitedly talking to Daichi, and showing him his brand new Firebolt. Yamaguchi watched as Daichi smiled down at him, ruffling the younger boy's hair and then posting up in the air. 

"Daichi is a good captain," Yachi said as he began to organise everyone down on the pitch, the Gryffindor players flying up in small groups. 

He held up a hand to shield his eyes from the sun. From what Yamaguchi could tell, it was by what position they wanted to play. There were only two other players in Hinata's group and Yamaguchi smiled. His friend needn't have been worried, even if there had been twenty of them Hinata would still make it. 

"Do you think Hinata will be okay?" Yachi asked, her own eyes also focused on the ginger. 

"He'll be fine," Yamaguchi said with small nod, "Quidditch is what Hinata is good at."

"And not much else," a dry voice interjected and all three of them looked up. 

"Tsukki!" Yamaguchi jumped up, "I didn't know you'd be here."

Tsukishima didn't answer and sat down next to him, his eyes drifting over the Quidditch pitch. Yamaguchi sat back down, and Yachi looked at him, obviously surprised to see Tsukishima there. Yamaguchi shook his head at her -  _I'll tell you later_. She turned back to the Quidditch pitch and they watched.

Suddenly Kiyoko spoke, "I thought only new captains trial all the team members."

Yamaguchi and Yachi looked at each other, and he nudged her to answer. She was her friend after all. 

"Well, um," Yachi was turning a little red, "Daichi always makes everyone try-out. I don't know why."

"Noya says it's to keep everyone on their toes," Yamaguchi quickly offered. 

"More likely he just wants everyone to see the level needed to get on the team," Tsukishima said offhandedly, still eyeing the Gryffindor students flying around on their brooms. 

"Oh", Yamaguchi smiled at his friend, "You're so smart Tsukki."

Yachi elbowed him his side and he turned around to her with a small scowl. 

"That hurt."

"You're being too obvious," she mumbled of the corner of her mouth. 

"What?" Yamaguchi asked, just as quietly and totally confused. 

"Ah!" Yachi looked down at the pitch, "Look! Hinata's moving!"

Yamaguchi looked up and saw Yachi was right. Hinata, who had previously just been hovering in the air, had suddenly flew to the other side of pitch, and was now diving and swerving, the other two chasing after him, and Yamaguchi narrowed his eyes. He could just make out a flash of gold a few metres in front of Hinata and he clenched his fists in excitement. Hinata was chasing the snitch. He leaned forward slightly as his eyes were glued on the streak of red and gold, how Hinata flew was amazing, his new broomstick was so much faster than his old one. The others didn't stand a chance. But Yamaguchi knew it was more than just the broomstick. Hinata was just a natural at Quidditch.

"Is he going to catch it? Is he close?" Yachi gripped Yamaguchi's arm tightly. 

"I don't know," Yamaguchi bit his lip, he saw Hinata reach out and he jumped up, "I think he's got it!"

"Really?!" Yachi jumped up and squinted and then cheered as Hinata suddenly slowed and let a whoop that could be heard across the entire pitch. 

"Looks like that idiot will be on the team again this year," Tsukishima didn't look particularly impressed and Yamaguchi eyed him. 

Tsukishima was not the same sort of person that Hinata was. Hinata, you could read like a book, whatever he was feeling was always painted on his face as obnoxiously as a toddler's drawing. Tsukki, on the other hand, either could be smiling but actually be plotting bloody murder. 

"Are you excited?" Yamaguchi wondered aloud and Tsukki immediately raised a scathing eyebrow and he immediately closed his mouth, "sorry Tsukki."

"Who else do you think is one the team?" Yachi was wriggling around in her seat as everyone up in the air began to spiral down, and then she waved her hand, "never mind, you weren't even paying attention."

"Hey!" Yamaguchi frowned at her, "I was."

"Was not!" Yachi stood out her tongue childishly at him. 

"Was to," Yamaguchi answered back. 

"Was not!"

"Was to!"

"Was not!"

"Was-"

"I'm leaving," Tsukishima interrupted him and stood up suddenly. 

"Tsukki-"

Before Yamaguchi could protest, Tsukishima had stood up and was making his way down the stands. 

"Tsukki wait!" Yamaguchi stood up and went to run after him but Yachi grabbed his arm and pulled him down. "What?"

"I told you," Yachi pulled him harder and he fell back into his seat, his eyes following Tsukishima as the boy's back got smaller and smaller, he didn't look back once, "you're being too obvious."

Yamaguchi slumped back down into his seat and looked at Yachi, irritation blatantly seeping into his voice, "what do you mean I'm being too obvious?"

Yachi looked at Kiyoko, who didn't seem particularly bothered and merely blinked in response. Yamaguchi looked between the two, feeling extremely confused while also simultaneously trying to push down his annoyance. Yachi was a close friend, but he had known Tsukishima since they were kids so he used to really wish the two would get along. But Yamaguchi knew it was futile, Yachi wasn't a provocative person by any means, but even Yamaguchi had to admit you had to be a certain type of person to get on with Tsukishima. It had taken Yamaguchi less than a day to confirm that whenever the three of them hung out, it would always be a little bit of an awkward atmosphere. 

"Yamaguchi," Yachi said seriously, and angled her body towards him, "I'm your friend right?"

Yamaguchi nodded slowly, "yes..."

"And because I'm your friend, I can tell you stuff," Yachi said a little uncertainly. 

"Um, sure?" Yamaguchi wasn't 100% sure, but in his experience that  _was_ how friendships worked. 

"You like Tsukishima and you make it super obvious and that's why you let him walk all over and I don't think it's healthy," Yachi said all in one breath.

"What?" Yamaguchi's mouth fell open, he had no idea what to say. 

He stared at Yachi, dimly aware of Kiyoko very pointedly staring at the Quidditch pitch were Daichi and Iwaizumi were still picking out team members, although it looked like they were pretty much done. Yamaguchi was aware he was gaping at Yachi but he still couldn't think of anything to say. Him liking Tsukishima was as alien as Noya liking Tanaka. He had never thought of Tsukki as anything over than a friend, and he definitely would never make it weird by asking him what they were. 

"Yamaguchi?" Yachi asked hesitantly, "are you okay?"

"You think I like Tsukki?" Yamaguchi finally managed to get out and Yachi looked a little surprised.

"Um, yeah," she looked at Kiyoko, "it is a little bit obvious."

Kiyoko nodded and looked at Yamaguchi, her gaze a little disinterested but not cold, "you do seem very close."

"Yeah," Yamaguchi nodded, slightly put off about, firstly about the fact that Yachi thought he liked Tsukishima and secondly by the fact that a random stranger was listening in on what he deemed a private conversation, not that it was really her fault, "we are close because we're friends."

Yachi frowned a little, "you don't act the same when your with Tsukishima than when you're with me. And I'm your friend too."

"That's because you're different people." 

Yachi looked at him, "you really don't like _like_ him?"

Yamaguchi fervently shook his head, "Tuskki's my best friend."

"Okay," Yachi didn't seem convinced but turned her eyes back to focus on the pitch when Yamaguchi suddenly remembered something else she'd said. 

"I don't let Tsukki walk all over me." 

"You kind of do," Yachi said dismissively.

Yamaguchi shook his head, "no I don't."

"Yamaguchi you've never said no to him."

Yamaguchi frowned, what Yachi said was true but-

"I've never needed to," he answered with a small shrug. 

Yachi looked surprised but didn't say anything. After a few moments of awkward silence Yamaguchi stood back up again.

"I'm going to look for Tsukki."

Yachi bit her lip and then waved at him, "bye..."

Yamaguchi made his way down the stands, thinking about what Yachi had said. He had never thought about _liking_ Tsukishima, or at least, in the way she was suggesting. Of course, he thought of him differently than every other of his friends, but that was just because they were childhood friends. He looked around, wondering where Tsukki had gone. Probably not far, the Slytherin try-outs were this afternoon. 

"Yamaguchi!" 

He looked up to see Hinata running towards him, and couldn't help but smile when he saw Kageyama, carrying two brooms over his shoulder, following him. It looked like everything was back to normal with those two. 

"I made it!" Hinata did a little dance and Kageyama knocked his head lightly with his Firebolt. 

"Of course you did idiot."

Hinata giggled cheerfully and tried to take his broom from Kageyama, "it's your turn next."

"This one's yours", Kageyama rolled his eyes and gave him the right one. 

"We have the same brooms now," Hinata informed him, and Yamaguchi raised an eyebrow. 

"I can see that."

"You can't use your broom as an excuse for me beating you anymore," said Kageyama with a confident smirk and Hinata immediately opened his mouth to counter.

"You-"

"Did you see Tsukki?" Yamaguchi quickly asked before they could get into argument.

Almost simultaneously, the two turned to look at him, matching expressions of disgust on their faces. 

"He stormed off somewhere," Hinata made a face and waved towards the opposite stands. "Or he could have just been walking."

"It is sometimes hard to tell," Yamaguchi agreed with a little smile. "I'll see you later. And congratulations on making the team."

"Thanks!" Hinata yelled cheerfully as Yamaguchi walked away, still looking for Tsukki.  

______________________________

 

Daichi was pleased. The team had basically stayed the same from last year, which meant their teamwork would still be excellent. They had only needed one new Chaser, and fortunately they had found one. He perhaps wasn't quite as balance and well-rounded as he could have been, but his enthusiasm made up for it and he was certainly confident. And he just happened to be the younger brother of the Dumstrang champion. 

"Well done Lev!" Alisa ran down from the stands and enveloped her brother in a hug, "you're going so well!"

He immediately began to struggle and got out of her hug, his face a little red and Daichi chuckled. They were so obviously siblings, not just their silver hair and tall, somewhat lanky frames, but their personalities too. 

"Oi Hinata!" He turned around to see the Seeker running off across the pitch, Kageyama hoisting both of their brooms over his shoulder and with a loud disgruntled groan following after him. 

"He's getting away Kageyama!" Nishinoya laughed as he jogged up to Daichi, "good-looking team we've got this year huh?"

"And not just playing-wise," Tanaka followed after Noya and flexed his arms with a cackle.

"Very nice," Noya approved and then posed with him. 

Daichi rolled his eyes and let the two of them frolic around. He walked over to Iwaizumi, who was busy wrestling a Bludger back into the trunk. Iwaizumi clipped it into place and then stood up, casually dusting off his uniform as he kicked the trunk shut and waved over some fourth years to take it back to the shed. He turned around and grinned when he saw Daichi walking over. 

"Not a bad try-outs. We'll have to see how to new kid handles in real games," Iwaizumi looked over at Lev, who was now talking animatedly with Hinata, "but otherwise, we're looking good."

Daichi nodded, and tried (but failed) not to look over to where Tanaka had got his stuck as he tried to pull his shirt off and Nishinoya was tugging at the sleeves. Iwaizumi followed his gaze and laughed. 

"They're having fun."

"I can't believe one of them has to become Captain next year," Daichi said, shuddering at the thought.

Iwaizumi shrugged, "I don't think the other houses are any better off in that department."

Daichi grimaced, shaking his head and turned back to Iwaizumi.

"How did talking to Oikawa go by the way?"

Iwaizumi pulled a face and Daichi frowned, "not good?"

"Well, you know what he's like," Iwaizumi didn't look particularly upset by his best friend's behaviour, "he's convinced I'm trying to sabotage him."

Daichi snorted. He didn't think he was ever going to meet someone who was as over-dramatic as Oikawa. Although Bokuto was a very close contender for the crown. Bokuto just tended to be dramatic though, whereas Oikawa was just well, a drama queen. As far as Daichi was concerned, Iwaizumi had just been trying to give the Slytherin vice-captain some (very valid) advice. From what Iwaizumi had told him, the former had simply told his friend he didn't think competing in the Triwizard Tournament would be a very good idea and he had taken in completely the wrong way, although Daichi had to agree there had to have been a smoother way of putting it than - _you shouldn't bother competing shittykawa._ And mentioning Kageyama as an alternative for the Hogwarts champion, even Iwaizumi was willing to admit had been a stupid mistake, ever since Kageyama had managed to (accidentally) one up Oikawa at a Quidditch match a few years ago, they'd had this weird half on, half off rivalry. But if there was one thing Oikawa couldn't be beaten at, it was holding a grudge. 

"He'll come round," Iwaizumi rolled his eyes, "he's too impatient to stay mad."

Not with you maybe, Daichi thought to himself. But he's managed to 'stay mad' at Kageyama for four years. 

"Looks like your friend's sorted those two out for us," Iwaizumi nodded over to where Nishinoya and Tanaka where. 

Daichi looked, thankfully Tanaka's endeavour to remove his shirt had failed and he was fully clothed, both him and Noya talking cheerfully to a light-haired boy dressed in silver and green. Daichi smiled. Iwaizumi picked up his broom from the ground and pushed Daichi towards them. 

"I'm going," Iwaizumi lifted a hand and walked off. 

Daichi walked over to the three, Suga turning around at the thud of his footsteps.  

"Captain!" Tanaka bounded over and slapped him hard on the back. 

Daichi glared at him and Tanaka quickly backed away as Noya ran over and grabbed Tanaka's arm.

"We'll be taking our leave now!" Noya waved at Suga and then for some reason winked at Daichi before dragging off a yelling Tanaka.

Suga walked over, smiling cheerfully at Daichi, who could only smile ruefully back. 

"They're very energetic," Suga commented on his teammates and Daichi remembered he'd been talking to them before he'd come over.

He groaned, "I'm sorry about them."

Suga shook his head with a laugh, "I don't mind. Makes things more interesting."

"A little too interesting maybe."

Daichi shifted his broomstick so that it leant more comfortably against his shoulder and gave Suga a once over. The dark green jersey and cape Suga was wearing was a stark reminder of him being a Slytherin, not that it mattered to Daichi. At first sight, Suga was probably the furthest thing away from Slytherin, Daichi could think of. He didn't come across as particularly cunning, smart yes but not cunning, nor ambitious or any of the usual Slytherin traits. But Daichi could tell there was more to him than what met the eye. 

"Your Quidditch team is looking good," Suga glanced over at Lev who was still talking to his sister.

Daichi nodded, feeling a little proud, "they're all good players."

"Daichi. Good players need a good captain to make a good team," Suga smiled at him and Daichi felt his face turn red and he laughed a little awkwardly. 

"Um, thanks," he said and rubbed the back of his head, and then it finally clicked, "wait. You're trying out?"

Suga nodded, flattening his uniform with a quiet breath, "I'm a little nervous."

"Are you any good? You don't look-" Daichi was so surprised he just let the question slipped out but he managed to catch himself and clapped his mouth shut. "I'm sorry."

Suga laughed, "don't worry about it. You're not the first."

He cocked his head to the side and paused for a second whilst Daichi mentally kicked himself, "I'm not bad."

"I'm sure you'll do great", Daichi said quickly, and smiled, still feeling a little awkward, "I'm sorry if I offended you."

"Well, I am a little offended," Suga paused, "if you really feel bad, you'll have make it up to me."

"I will?" Daichi asked, a little confused over the turn the conversation had taken and then said a little more forcefully, "of course I will."

"I don't have a broom", Suga said a little wistfully, "I forgot it at the Academy."

Daichi wasn't stupid. He was however a little surprised but he started to laugh and he handed over his broom. He should have known, the sorting hat was never wrong. His new friend was a Slytherin indeed. 

"I'll lend you mine." 

Suga looked a little surprised at his laughing, "is something funny?"

"You are," Daichi didn't elaborate and Suga slowly reached out and took the broom handle from him. 

"Are you sure? You've never seen me fly," there was a tiny twinkle in Suga's eye, "I could crash and burn."

"Like I said," Daichi looked him in the eye, "I think you'll do great."

Suga's eyes widened and Daichi's breath caught before then quickly looked down, not saying anything before looking back up, an easy smile settling onto his face. Daichi's mind was blank, in those few seconds of Suga's surprised expression his eyes had been wide and innocent and absolutely beautiful. Daichi stared at him, but now his eyes were somewhat guarded. Had he just imagined that flash of bright emotion? Suga was busy running his eyes over Daichi's broom and he chuckled. 

"A Cleansweep."

Daichi looked at him questioningly. 

"My broom is Cleansweep too," Suga explained and Daichi grinned, trying to ignore the slightly distant look in Suga's eyes.

He hadn't noticed it before but now, he could see there was something guarded about the other. He'd seen a flash of something in his eyes' which now just made all the more obvious that there was something a little reserved, as if all his emotions were on check.

"You won't have to get used to it then."

Suga nodded, "thank you."

Daichi stepped back and looked at Suga up and down, with his Quidditch robes, "perfect."

Suga stared at Daichi, and the latter thought his cheeks might have turned a little red, but he smiled a little nonetheless, "I look the part now."

"Am I still not forgiven?" Daichi asked cheerfully.

"Maybe," Suga said playfully.

"Hm." Daichi paused, feeling strangely happy despite the nagging of Suga's guarded expression at the back of his mind. "I still have to make it up to you I suppose. If you make the team, I'll think of something big to make it up to you."

"I suppose you might be forgiven then," Suga laughed, but there was a tiny crease on his forehead that was hard to ignore.

______________________________

 

"I'm bored," Hinata's whinging could easily be heard across the Quidditch pitch, "let's play truth or dare." 

Uh oh. Yaku had been there last time Hinata had said those words to Kageyama and the result had been, in his opinion and he was pretty sure anyone who had run into either Kageyama or Hinata at the end of last year would agree, disastrous. Although naturally all Kageyama had to do was refuse and all would be well, there would be no need to revisit that period of their lives. 

"Fine." 

Yaku slowly closed his eyes. Stupid. Why were the two of them so stupid? He strolled over, Hinata immediately smiling and waving when he saw him. 

"Yaku!"

"What are you two up to?" he asked, as if he hadn't been eavesdropping on their conversation for the past ten minutes. 

Hinata and Kaegyama shared a glance. Yaku didn't really understand why Hinata would suggest playing a game that had thrown the friendship that literally everyone in the entirety of the school was jealous of into the works, but then again he didn't understand a lot of what Hinata did as a general rule of thumb either. 

"I'm bored," said Hinata with a pout and Kageyama scowled. 

"Stop whinging and find something do then."

"But you're playing next aren't you?" Hinata cocked his head to the side and Kageyama's scowl faltered. 

"Yeah?"

"Actually no," Yaku said before Hinata opened his mouth to answer, "yours is the only captain that makes everyone try-out."

"Bokuto made us try-out last year," Kageyama said with a frown. 

"Bokuto made  _you_ try-out last year," Yaku sighed, "and that was only to check setting people's brooms on fire wasn't going to become a common thing."

Kaegyama's face turned red as Hinata laughed, "that was an accident!"

"I know, I know," Yaku shrugged, "you know what Bokuto's like. He was probably hoping you'd do it again."

Kageyama's scowl deepened until Hinata bumped his shoulder with a cheerful smile. 

"If you don't have to try-out let's do something."

"Like what?" Yaku reminding him of his incident in his 3rd year evidently putting him in bad mood.

Hinata opened his mouth and closed it again with a concentrated look on his face. Yaku took pity on the two. 

"How about trying to find a club?"

"We've got Quidditch," said Kageyama, with his tone implying 'what else could we possibly need'.

"We could just have a look around," Hinata, as usual, was much more receptive to the idea, "I've never thought about clubs before! Let's go!"

Hinata dragged a protesting Kageyama off towards the shed to put their brooms away and Yaku watched as the two raced each other across the grass. They had so much energy, joining a club would probably do them some good. Kageyama would never join one of his own accord, but Hinata would probably able to jostle him into joining with him if something caught his fancy. Then suddenly Hinata braked, with Kageyama almost bowling into him. 

"Are you stupid?! Don't just suddenly stop like that moron!"

"Okay! Okay!" Hinata yelled back and then spun around and came barrelling back, "we have to watch Bokuto! He's so cool!"

Hinata ran up the stands to where Yaku could see Yachi sitting. 

"Kageyama get up here!" he yelled and the Hufflepuff grumbled but followed him up.

Yaku rolled his eyes at their antics, but at least they weren't fighting anymore. 

"Yaku! Get over here!" 

He turned around at the rowdy crowing of his captain, and an somewhat embarrassed but resigned looking Shirofuku standing next to him. He let out a sigh and walked over. Both of them were dressed in their yellow Quidditch gear, but he was in his usual robes. He was going to play so he hadn't seen the point. Bokuto was looking at him with a large grin, and as he got closer, the Hufflepuff captain waved over his shoulder. 

"We've got a good turn-out this year."

Yaku agreed with him. There were quite a few people trying out this year, at least double the amount that tried out last year. His eyes dragged across the crowd and suddenly met with someone familiar. He was a little surprised to see Alisa Haiba there, he would have thought she would be more concerned with the Tournament, although she seemed to have enough energy for both, and then some. 

Bokuto nudged him after he reached them, with Shirofuku giving him a small smile.

"So, how's Gryffindor looking my little spy?"

Yaku's eyebrow twitched at being called little but he resisted the temptation to kick something, "pretty much the same."

"The same?" Bokuto's eyes widened, "you mean that green-haired chaser is retaking their seventh year-?!"

"No," Yaku interupted. "They've got a new Chaser. But that's it."

"Who is it?" Shirofuku asked curiously, "anyone we know?"

Yaku shook his head, "one of the Dumstrang students."

"Hm," Bokuto straightened. "Very interesting."

Yaku didn't answer and looked over the potential players again. He recognised a few of them from last year, and a few others had been reserve members the previous year too. He looked as Bokuto began asking them for their position and then running back over to Shirofuku. 

"Let's go!" he threw one leg over his broom, and kicked off. 

"Hey Captain!" Shirofuku called out but he was already soaring away. "Geez."

She turned to the group of Hufflepuffs. 

"You all ready? Just fly up and we'll go through a few drills," she jumped on her broom and followed Bokuto. 

One by one, the group grew smaller and smaller until there was only one person left. Yaku tilted his head to the side and looked questioningly at Alisa, who was staring sheepishly at him. She walked over and Yaku had to consciously stop himself from taking a few steps back because she was very much taller than him. And very very pretty.

"Hey it's Yaku right?" she greeted him with a bright smile.

He nodded, and smiled as winningly as he could. 

"How can I help you?"

Alisa looked a little awkward, "I feel terrible asking. But everybody always talk about how good you are in all your classes and everything. And honestly I would do it myself but I'm almost as bad as him."

Yaku stared at her, thoroughly confused, "I'm sorry?"

Alisa looked at him, took a breath and bowed, "Please help my little brother!"

"You have a brother?" was the first thing that came to Yaku's mind and slipped out his mouth.

Alisa nodded, smile back on her face.

"He really loves Quidditch. But with the rules here, he's gonna have some trouble playing," she chuckled, "he's not the brightest wand in the box."

Yaku was still very surprised, "why would you want me to help?"

"Don't you do tutoring?"

Yaku let out a sigh, "that was only so Kageyama could stay on the team."

"Please!" Alisa put her hands together and Yaku tried to say no, but her wide pleading eyes made him feel too guilty and he eventually gave in. 

"Fine."

After all, how bad could it be?

 ______________________________

 

"Then she went like whoosh! And Inuoka came back up like this and boom!" Hinata jumped up on the seat, leaning towards Akaashi with his eyes wide, "stole the Quaffle!"

Bokuto clapped, "and that's why Inuoka, you are our new chaser." 

Inuoka grinned giving Bokuto and thumbs up and Akaashi smiled a little at the Captain's excited caw in response. The small group was sitting on the Quidditch stands, waiting for those who wanted to try out for the Ravenclaw team to arrive. At least, that's what Akaashi was doing. He wasn't entirely sure about the rest of them.

"Alisa!" Bokuto spun around but the Dumstrang Triwizard champion was nowhere to be seen, "where'd she go?"

"Talking to Yaku," Akaashi looked over his shoulder, he could see the two of them, handing off their brooms to a fifth year that jogged to put them back in the shed. 

"Ooh." Bokuto wiggled his eyebrows and laughed loudly, "good for him!"

Akaashi rolled his eyes and prodded Bokuto's leg with his toe. His friend turned towards him with large grin.

"Wassup?"

"Are you gonna clear up?"

"Yessir!" Bokuto stood to attention and ran off, Hinata immediately running after him, with Kageyama trailing behind. 

"Why does he only ever listen to you?" Shirofuku shook her head and waved Inuoka off, "come find me later and we'll get you a uniform."

Akaashi could only shrug in response, watching as Bokuto suddenly got on his broom and took off, Hinata cheering loudly as he spun and flipped around. Bokuto did a few more tricks as Shirofuku let out a sigh and Akaashi smiled a little.

"So cool!" Hinata was yelling excitedly, and cheered when Bokuto came down, "teach me how to flip! Please! It's so awesome!"

"Ahahahaha!" Bokuto laughed loudly and spun his broom over his head, "I will teach you!"

"Yay!" Hinata jumped up and down and then turned to Kageyama, "let's go get our brooms!"

"What about-?"

"Bokuto," Akaashi called him over and he left the two younger boys squabbling to run over.

"Hey Akaashi did you see me just then? Did you see?"

"Yes. Very impressive," Akaashi eyed Bokuto's dishevelled hair and the latter immediately combed his fingers through it to fix it. 

"Oi Captain," Shirofuku ran over, trunk full of Quidditch things floating behind her with Yaku and Alisa following. "I've told Alisa she made the team."

"Alisa!" Bokuto spun around, "welcome to the team!"

"Congratulations," Yaku said and then looked at Akaashi, seeming a little surprised to see him there. 

"Is Ushijima not coming?"

Akaashi shrugged in response, "he didn't say."

"He doesn't talk much," Alisa agreed. 

There was some yelling from over near the broom shed and they all turned around to Kageyama and Hinata yelling at each other.

"Those two are always shouting," Shirofuku rolled her eyes. 

"Making up for lost time maybe," Yaku muttered and then started to walk over to the two, "they should really join a club, get rid of all that useless energy."

"This place sure is fun," laughed Alisa and then bowed to Bokuto. 

"Thank you so much by the way! I'll do my best! I'll work hard for sure." She gave them all the thumbs up.

"You wanna give me a hand then?" Shirofuku took her up on her offer cheerfully. "I need to get three new uniforms, because we've got some great new players and because our ace chaser over there won't stop growing."

The two girls made their way across the pitch and Bokuto looked at Akaashi up and down. 

"Aya Akaashi! You look so cool!" he clapped his friend on the back and Akaashi winced. 

"Ow."

"Oh, sorry," Bokuto laughed cheerily and then suddenly frowned. "Have you seen Kuroo today?"

"Kuroo?" Akaashi paused, "not since yesterday."

Akaashi wasn't sure whether Bokuto knew that Kuroo had spent the night yowling outside the Ravenclaw dorm and then eventually falling asleep in Akaashi's own dorm room, but he was pretty sure Kenma wouldn't want that fact, or any other fact about himself really, advertised. Akaashi ruffled his hair, when he'd come back after giving the two of them some space to sort things out, he'd seen them sleeping on the same bed. In fact, Kuroo had been wrapped around the smaller boy, and Kenma had looked more peaceful than ever. Even when he'd woken up, those two had still been asleep. So naturally, he'd left them there. 

Bokuto shrugged, not seeming particularly concerned before looking at Akaashi with a frown, "does Ravenclaw even need any new players?"

Akaashi shrugged, "I wouldn't mind a new setter."

"Don't you have," Bokuto clicked his tongue and then mimed his hair sticking out at the edges, "spiky hair?"

"Semi?" Akaashi shrugged again. "He's alright, just not very...smart?"

Bokuto looked stricken. "He got an E in Charms!"

Akaashi waved his hand, "wrong word. He doesn't have good judgement."

Bokuto still looked confused and Akaashi tried to explain. 

"Of when to play it safe mostly. Always diving after the snitch even if it's closer to the other seeker."

"Aha," Bokuto clicked his fingers, "I get it."

Akaashi seriously doubted he did but didn't say anything. Finally it looked like a small group of Ravenclaws had assembled on the court, chatting loudly to each other as one of the current beaters of the team, Satori Tendo, ran around hyping them up.

"So we'll see," Akaashi rolled his shoulders and stood up, picking his broom up from the side. "Are you going to stay and watch?"

Bokuto immediately lifted both his hands in thumbs up signs, "of course!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One day I will update on time.


	6. Search for Tsukishima

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is actually kind of Chapter 5.5  
> Just a bit extra because Ch. 5 was looking a bit full and this doesn't fit in the next proper chapter :)

Yamaguchi wasn't particularly unfit, years of going up and down the Hogwarts staircases to get to class and up the Gryffindor tower every night just to get to bed had ensured that he had at least some stamina. That being said, he didn't think there could possibly be anyone who wouldn't be exhausted after having walked up, down and around the Hogwarts Quidditch stands for over an hour. Which as it happened, was exactly what he had spent the last hour and a half doing, and he was exhausted. 

"Yamaguchi!" he heard someone call his name, and looked down to see Yachi waving at him from below. "Come down!"

She motioned for him to come down, and after a quick look around him that, predictably, yielded no results, he slowly made his way down the wooden stairs to where she was waiting. As soon as she got down she ran over to him, looking a little disgruntled. 

"You never came back," she said and Yamaguchi smiled apologetically. 

"Sorry," he looked around, "but shouldn't Hinata be finished by now?"

Yachi waved her hand in response. 

"He ran off to 'join a club'," she made finger quotations in the air, "with Kageyama, and then came running back two seconds later because Bokuto was flying, and then went running over to get his broom but Yaku sent him off to try to join a club again because it's Ravenclaw's turn to try-out."

"What about..." Yamaguchi frowned, "Koyoko?"

"Kiyoko," Yachi corrected him and cocked her head to the side. "She's trying out."

"What?!" Yamaguchi gaped. "Really?"

Yachi nodded looking a little confused, "Why do you think she was here?"

Yamaguchi shook his head and stared up at the streaks of blue zooming around in the sky. Kiyoko hadn't looked like the type to play tennis, although neither did Akaashi Keiji, Ravenclaw's vice-captain, and he was a deceivingly good player. 

"Yamaguchi," Yachi bit her lip, "I'm sorry about what I said earlier."

Yamaguchi had forgotten about their previous conversation, but as soon as Yachi brought it up he felt himself frowning a little. Yachi probably noticed and looked a little panicked. 

"I was just worried! You said it yourself Tsukishima's been acting weird since last year, and I thought that maybe something had happened between you two because you've been even quieter than usual! I'm really sorry!"

Greatly alleviated by her apology, Yamaguchi felt his irritation completely evaporate. It was impossible to stay mad at Yachi after all, she was just too genuine and adorable for anyone to hold a grudge against her. 

"It's fine," Yamaguchi quickly said before she could get anymore stressed. "I still can't find Tsukki though."

"He's probably gone to the library or something," Yachi shrugged. "Like you said he's been a little weird lately." 

"Maybe," Yamaguchi still wasn't convinced, but there wasn't a lot he could do.

"Are you going to stay and watch the Slytherin try-outs?" Yachi asked and Yamaguchi made a face.

"Me neither," Yachi matched his expression. "They're scary."

Yamaguchi couldn't help but nod in agreement. The Slytherin Quidditch team was notoriously intimidating, and Yamaguchi had to admit Tsukishima probably aided in that reputation greatly. Suddenly Yachi looked over his shoulder and her eyes widened. 

"What?" Yamaguchi turned around. 

"Tsukki!" He squeaked in surprise when he saw who was coming up behind him. 

Tsukishima looked even more annoyed than usual, blatantly glaring at Yachi and Yamaguchi as he walked up to them. 

"Tsukki, I was looking for you," Yamaguchi spun around to face him. 

"Really." Tsukishima said disinterestedly.

"Um, I think Kiyoko's finished," Yachi looked over to where the black-haired girl was talking to Akaashi and she clenched her fist, "I'm going to ask her how she went!"

She bowed to Tsukishima, "It was nice to see you again Tsukishima. I'll see you later Yamaguchi!"

She ran over and Yamaguchi watched her run over, before turning back to Tsukishima. 

"Where'd you go?" he asked, trying not to sound too prying. 

"I had to talk to Ukai."

"Huh?" Yamaguchi blinked. "Why?"

Tsukishima shrugged.

"Stuff."

"Oh," Yamaguchi swallowed.

"Do you wanna go to the library?" He said, in an attempt to not concentrate to the feeling that was rising up in him. 

To his immense relief, Tsukishima nodded and the two started to make their way across the pitch. Yamaguchi tried to think of something to talk about, but he couldn't. He didn't know what to say, he couldn't think of anything. And even worse, the silence wasn't the comfortable kind Tsukki and he used to share. No, this silence was the silence of him straining to say something and coming up short. When had it become like this? Yamaguchi didn't understand, why was he acting this way? Tsukishima was always a bit hostile when he came back to school, and never to this extent, and he'd never been this closed off with _him_.

Yamaguchi's eyes caught movement, and they were drawn to the pitch. People in blue uniforms were milling around, as those dressed in green began running around. Yamaguchi's eyes flicked around but he couldn't see Yachi, nor could he see her new friend. At least she was probably having a good time. Yamaguchi bit his lip, and watched as Michiyima tried to get Oikawa to stop floating around. He was lying on his broom, floating only a meter off the ground with Michiyima running after him and trying to pull him off. 

"What's wrong with Oikawa?" he asked, glad of something to say.

Tsukishima looked over and sneered. 

"The usual. He's fighting with his boyfriend again."

"His b-b-boy-boyfriend?!" Yamaguchi turned bright red and stared with wide eyes' at Oikawa. "Oikawa is...I didn't know he was..."

"Is Hinata rubbing off on you?" Tsukishima finally seemed to be coming back to normal, as he rolled his eyes. "He doesn't actually have a boyfriend. As if Slytherin would allow that stuff."

"Oh," Yamaguchi laughed a little awkwardly, "I-i see."

Yamaguchi supposed he should be glad Tsukki was joking, even though he hadn't caught it, but the more he talked to Tsukishima the more downtrodden and upset he felt. First Tsukki disappeared for an over an hour, then wouldn't talk to him and now even when things were getting back to normal, Yamaguchi couldn't just ignore that it seemed like Tsukishima had spent the last few weeks trying to avoid him. 

"Stop frowning," said Tsukishima and Yamaguchi immediately smoothed out his eyebrows. 

"Sorry Tsukki," he kicked the grass in front of him. 

He felt pathetic. And frustrated. In all, he felt like crap. Maybe he should just ask Tsukki straight out if he'd been avoiding him, instead of skirting around the question and get one or two word answers. But as Yamaguchi opened his mouth, nothing came out. He had no idea how to ask. It should be easy. 

_Have you been avoiding me?_

Was that too blunt? Yes, Tsukki would probably just tell he was being stupid. 

_Did something happen?_

No, that was too general. 

_Am I your friend?_

Yamaguchi stopped. Did he even want to know the answer to the question? All his life, it had been him and Tsukki. When his letter first arrived, before he even told his mother, he'd ran to tell Tsukkishima. When he'd finally mastered his first spell, Tsukishima was the first person he showed it to. They'd known each other since they were kids. Why was he always so insecure about their friendship? Because sometimes he felt like Tsukishima didn't really want him around. That Yamaguchi was forcing himself onto him. 

"Are you coming?" Tsukki turned around, slightly annoyed and Yamaguchi started. 

"Yes! Sorry, Tsukki."

He caught up to him and they walked side by side. Still in silence, Yamaguchi stewing in his pathetic thoughts. He really wished they would just go away. They were stupid, they didn't mean anything. 

"What?" Tsukishima raised an eyebrow at him. 

"What?" Yamaguchi repeated, a little dumbly.

"You're frowning. Again," Tsukishima added. 

"Oh, sorry," Yamaguchi looked ahead, "just thinking."

"Okay."

Yamaguchi briefly wondered whether Tsukki could have sounded any less interested. Stupid brain. Enough with the stupid thoughts. This was just how Tsukki was, why was he suddenly being so weird about it?

They finally got to the library with Yamaguchi belatedly realising he didn't actually have any of his books. Fortunately for him however, unlike Hinata, Tanaka, Noya and basically everyone in Gryffindor, he actually enjoyed reading and studying. Which meant he could just choose any book, preferably one on divination, and settle down. They went to their usual spot, at the corner, a small table hidden behind all the massive bookshelves. They sat down, and Tsukishima eyed the shelves around him before waving his wand. One of the books slipped out and floated down, landing gently on the table in front of him. Yamaguchi looked at the title. 

"Diseases, death and devilry?" Yamaguchi questioned with a frown. "That's a bit morbid."

"I'm curious," Tsukki shrugged and began to flick through the book. 

"That's cool," Yamaguchi was impressed, and maybe a little tempted to look for a book out of his comfort zone. 

He stood up and strolled up the shelves, eyes' flicking over the various titles until something caught his eye. 

_The Triwizard Tournament: Terrific or Terrifying?_

He slipped it out of the shelf and coughed. It was seriously dusty. He looked at it and then shrugged, why not? He made his way back to the table and sat back down. Tsukishima was busy reading about some sort of potion so Yamaguchi flipped open the book and ran his eyes over the tiny text. 

 _The Triwizard Tournament has often been thought of as a great competition, bringing three of the greatest magical schools together and allowing the best of the students to compete against each other. However, it has a bloody history. Many try to defend it, but the Tournament is a death trap. The tasks designed to test students are needlessly dangerous, and have resulted_   _serious injuries and even death. Finally, it was discontinued, following the death of a student, yet people still petition for it to be brought back. The question to be asked is, why would we bring back a Tournament that bestows glory at the price of the pain and suffering of children._

Yamaguchi balked and looked at cover of the book again. 

"Margery Massady?" 

"What is it?" Tsukki looked up and Yamaguchi quickly shook his head. 

"Ah nothing." 

Tsukishima went back to reading, leaning his head against his head as his eyes flicked left to right. Yamaguchi suddenly felt a like curious.

"Hey Tsukki."

"Hm," he didn't look up from his reading but Yamaguchi forged on.

"What do you think of the Triwizard Tournament?"

Tsukishima looked up, "It's kinda lame."

"You think?"

Tsukki shrugged, "I don't see why anyone would bother."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Hey it's glasses and his freckly friend," an overly cheerful voice called out. 

Yamaguchi looked up to see a sandy-haired boy swaggering over to them with a smirk. Yamaguchi couldn't help but stare at the piercings that lined his ears, his rather wild appearance only enhanced by his undercut and the messy way he wore his uniform, with a missing tie and the top few buttons of his shirt unbuttoned. 

"You missed try-outs my friend," he addressed Tsukki.

"I'm not your friend."

"Ouch. Why so harsh glasses? You could really hurt someone." 

Whoever they were, they looked just about as far away from hurt as Yamaguchi was from recovering his ability to talk when he saw that this guy not only had a piercing on his ears, but also on his tongue. Yamaguchi had never even got his ears pierced, but he imagined piercing to be painful, and especially the tongue. Surely that hurt. The boy seemed to notice him staring and he immediately winked. 

"Like what you see?"

"What?" Yamaguchi squeaked, still a little bit in shock. 

"Sorry," Terushima held up his hands and looked remorseful, "I'm off the market at the moment."

"Okay?" Yamaguchi was feeling progressively more confused as he shot Tsukki a panicked glance. 

"Bugger off." Tsukkishima thankfully seemed to get the message and the boy looked surprised. 

"Glasses! Don't you wanna hear the good news? We've got a new seeker," the boy grinned, "a pretty little thing too."

"Don't care," Tsukkishima turned the page of his book and the boy mock gasped. 

"Rude." 

He turned to look at Yamaguchi leaning back on the table to mock-whisper to him. 

"How do you even deal with this guy?"

Before Yamaguchi could come up with an answer however, he had straightened. 

"Later glasses," he then winked at Yamaguchi with a salacious smirk, "I'll be seeing you around Freckles."

Yamaguchi felt his nose turn up the guy walked away. He looked to see Tsukishima staring at him. 

"What is it?" he asked. 

"That guy's gross," he said and Yamaguchi could only nod in response. 

"Who is he?"

"Some guy on the team. Terushima."

"Oh. Wait," Yamaguchi cocked his head to the side, suddenly remembering something. "Isn't he a prefect?"

Tsukishima looked disgusted, "Unfortunately."

"Right," Yamaguchi smiled sheepishly at him, "you're not a fan?"

"Are you?" Tsukki said, in a rhetorical tone, picking back up his book. 

"He does kind of give me the creeps," Yamaguchi admitted staring up the now empty space where Terushima had been standing. 

Mimicking his friend, he picked his own book back up and skimmed through the pages. Whoever this Margery person was, she definitely had some strong feelings towards the Tournament. All of them negative. Yamaguchi wasn't sure how much time had passed but the sun was on its descent when Tsukki put his book down and stared at Yamaguchi boredly. 

"Are you feeling better?"

"Sorry?" Yamaguchi looked confused and Tsukki raised an eyebrow. "Um, I feel the same. Which is fine."

"You've been acting weird all morning," Tsukki stood up and walked over to the put the book back on the shelf. "It was annoying."

"Oh, sorry," Yamaguchi rubbed the back of his neck, "just a little tired I guess."

Tsukki didn't answer, pushing the book back on the shelf before stretching out his hand to Yamaguchi. He stared at it blankly. 

"Your book," Tsukishima said as if he was stupid. 

Yamaguchi started and scrambled to get his book, handing it to Tsukki. 

"Thanks Tsukki," He stood up as Tsukishima shoved the book back into a random shelf. 

Yamaguchi watched as it slipped behind the shelf, shooting off, the enchanted wood of the shelves bringing it back to its right place. He stood up and followed Tsukishima out of the library. 

"Are you going to dinner?" Yamaguchi asked and Tsukki shook his head. 

"Not hungry," He said. "I'm going back."

Without another word, or a look back, Tsukki started to make his way towards the Slytherin common room. 

"Bye Tsukki!" Yamaguchi called out, with a wave the other couldn't see. 

 

**~**

 

Yamaguchi had also decided he wasn't particularly hungry, which was why he found himself in the Gryffindor common room. Much to his surprise however, he was not the only one there. Hinata was dozing on the sofa, his potions textbook, weirdly still in its mushroom form, wrapped in his arms. Yamaguchi went to sit in his usual armchair, dropping his charms textbook down on the coffee table, and grinned when he saw who was already in it. A grey ball of fur was curled on top of one of the cushions and Yamaguchi gently picked it up and put it on his lap as he sat down. His grey chinchilla let out a small squeak and Yamaguchi stroked its head gently. 

"Hey Stormy," he said quietly. 

He looked over to the corner of the common room where a myriad of bowls of food and water were clustered. Daichi used to enchant the bowls magically refill each time they emptied however after Yamamoto's cat got so fat she could barely move, they'd decided only the water bowl should be refilled. They could each feed their own pets however much food they needed. It didn't look like Stormy's bowl was empty so Yamaguchi didn't need to worry. 

Hinata shifted on the sofa and slowly cracked open his eyes. They wandered drearily around the room before focusing on Yamaguchi. He immediately straightened, his massively deformed textbook still clenched in his arms, its legs moving feebly. 

"Yamaguchi!" Hinata said surprised, "since when did you get here?"

Stormy ran up from Yamaguchi's lap to settle on his shoulder as he shrugged. 

"Only five minutes ago."

"Did you find Tsukishima?" 

Yamaguchi nodded, a little surprised Hinata had remembered that fact. 

"Yeah."

Hinata made a face, "I still don't know why you like him. He's so mean!"

Usually Yamaguchi would have countered, but this time he could only sigh. He wasn't really in the mood to defend Tsukki today. He was a terrible friend. He sighed again. No wonder Tsukishima was being so cold to him. They hadn't talked in the holidays at all. Yamaguchi hadn't even sent him an owl. Not that it was totally his fault as he barely had a minute to spare in dealing with his extremely extended family. 

Hinata suddenly frowned at him, "why are you so down?"

"I'm not," Yamaguchi tried not to sound like he'd just come back from a Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson.

"You are!" Hinata pointed at him accusingly, "you're all mopey. Like when you come back from a DADA lesson."

"I'm just tired."

"You didn't do anything today though," Hinata was about as tactful as a box full of jarveys. 

Yamaguchi looked away. Why was he such a failure at everything he did? It was past the point of sad, honestly it was just frustrating now. He couldn't even lie convincingly enough that one of the stupidest people he knew believed him. Perhaps that was a bit harsh on Hinata, but it was no secret Hinata wasn't the brightest star in the sky when it came to other people's emotions and problems. He'd believed Noya when the latter had told him the reason Aone was so tall was because he was half giant. 

"I dunno," Yamaguchi admitted. 

Hinata finally put down the mushroom, and Yamaguchi finally noticed noticed the blonde ball of fluff curled up on his lap. The small rabbit that had famously managed to escape all six of Kuroo's cat when it had somehow got lost in the Slytherin dungeon twitched as Hinata stretched. Yamaguchi looked at Hinata for a second and then opened his mouth. 

"Can I ask you question?"

"You just did!" Hinata suddenly yelled and then clapped his hands excitedly, "I've always wanted to say that."

Yamaguchi stared at him, he was looking all together way too proud of himself. 

"How long have you been waiting to say that?" Yamaguchi was almost afraid to ask. 

"Since last year."

_Oh lord._

"Anyways, can I?" 

Hinata shrugged, "sure."

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to but," Yamaguchi hesitated, "when you and Kageyama fought..."

Hinata tensed a little bit and his face contracted. 

"How did you make up?" Yamaguchi asked anyways. 

Hinata was frowning and his lips were pursed together. He played with Bunbun's ears and just as Yamaguchi was about to assure him that he didn't need to answer, he did. 

"We didn't really make-up," Hinata said quietly. 

"What?" Yamaguchi said, "you two are fine!"

"Well yeah, I guess," Hinata didn't look completely convinced, "but we didn't make-up. I dunno, Kageyama didn't say anything and it was like everything was back to normal so I didn't say anything either."

Yamaguchi opened his mouth and then closed it again. He didn't know why Kageyama and Hinata had been fighting but it had seemed pretty serious. And it was in neither of their personalities to ignore things, at least Yamaguchi had thought so. Both of them were terrible actors at that, Hinata's face was like a canvas with all his emotions painted on clear as day. 

"But it's fine!" Hinata said loudly and grinned in Yamaguchi's direction, "Kageyama's an idiot anyways."

"Yeah," Yamaguchi said quietly pondering.

Was ignoring the problem really the best way to deal with it? Every book he'd read and movie he'd seen was screaming at him that this was not the right solution. But it was the most convenient one, and to be honest, stressing and worrying over if something had gone terribly wrong in his and Tsukki's friendship was very tiring. Stormy chattered in his ear and he nodded to himself. He was just going to put this behind him. 

"When d'you think the first trial is?" 

Yamaguchi looked in Hinata's direction, surprised but glad to his brooding interrupted. 

"Why so interested?"

"Well it's cool isn't it? And I really wanna know what it is!" he clenched a fist excitedly. "Plus Kenma's my friend so I need to get him something!"

"Why do you need to Kozume Kenma something?" Yamaguchi asked, lost.

Hinata looked at him as if he were stupid, which Yamaguchi felt was entirely unfair. 

"Because he's my friend."

"But he's Beauxbatons' champion," Yamaguchi said feebly, "shouldn't we be cheering for Ushijima?"

Hinata immediately scowled. 

"Ushijima is mean! You know what he said to me last year?" Hinata deepened his voice, "little shrimps like you don't belong on a broomstick, die you inferior human scum."

"I'm sure that's exactly what he said," Yamaguchi rolled his eyes.

"Hey hey hey. What are you two fifth years doing here?" Noya walked into the common room, himself full of his usual cheer and his arms full of an assortment of sweets. "You missed the kitchen haul."

"Woo!" Tanaka burst into through the painting with a panicked expression of his face, "Noya! Daichi's coming!"

"Shit!" Noya looked down at the food in his arms, "dorms?"

"Let's go!" Tanaka nodded and the two shot up the stairs to their dormitories. 

A few moments later, Daichi, Iwaizumi and Misaki pushed their way past the portrait and into the dorm. Misaki smiled at the two of them. 

"Hey you two. You missed the headmaster's announcement."

"Headmaster's announcement?" Yamaguchi looked at Hinata, who looked just as confused as he felt.

"The first trial of the Triwizard Tournament is going to be held in two weeks," Daichi said. 

"Woah!" Hinata immediately jumped up, with his rabbit slipping off his lap with a panicked squeak. "Oops, sorry Bunbun. Did they say what it was?"

"Nope," Noya sprang down from the stairs, glowing with innocence, "just that they needed to weigh their wands or something like that before it happened."

"The wand weighing ceremony," Iwaizumi confirmed. "They'll probably have a wandmaker come in to check everyone's magic is working."

"Awesome," Hinata said and Yamaguchi had to agree with him, wandmakers were, as Hinata would put it, pretty cool.

Hinata moved up to make room on the sofa as Noya flopped down next to him, Tanaka running down and throwing himself down on the sofa too. Mushouyou, who had been tottering around the food bowls was levitated to the sofa by Noya, and landed safely on the latter's lap who happily patted him. Yamaguchi didn't understand how Hinata's faulty magic was lasting so long but he supposed he should never doubt just how terrible Hinata was at Transfiguration.

Daichi and Iwaizumi settled on the sofa next to him, with Misaki excusing herself to bed. Soon the conversation lulled as everyone poured over either their homework, their books or in the case of Nishinoya and Tanaka, a oversized walking mushroom. Yamaguchi himself, picked up his Charms textbook from the table in front of him and dragged his eyes' over the words. He supposed he should really be practicing these spells but he couldn't be bothered. For now, he would do what he did best, and he would read about them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this extra tidbit, then lost it because I'm an idiot and didn't save it and considered not bothering.  
> But I wrote it again anyways because I'm a nerd ;)


	7. Wands, wishes and welts

Hinata stared blankly at the chalkboard.

"I don't understand," he said and Kageyama snorted. 

"No surprise there."

Hinata glared at him but didn't answer, instead running off in search of Yamaguchi. _He_ at least would be helpful, and it wasn't like Kageyama understood either. That idiot. The younger boy saw him coming and raised his wand with a small smile, and Hinata made a beeline for him, smiling happily back. 

"Hello," Yamaguchi had his book in his other hand and seemed to be reading something of the yellowing pages.

"Do you know how to cast one?" Hinata interrupted him, too revved up over Kageyama's jab to chat, and waved his hand at the board, where their teacher had sprawled their instructions before putting his feet up on his desk (literally) and let the fifth years practice by themselves in his usual laissez-faire fashion. 

The desks had been pushed back against the wall, leaving a large space where children were yelling incantations, very few with much luck. There was enough room in the classroom for everyone to be able to separate and maintain their personal space. 

"A patronus charm?" Yamaguchi's eyes drifted to the board. 

**_'This ancient and mysterious charm conjures a magical guardian, a projection of all your most positive feelings. The Patronus Charm is difficult, and many witches and wizards are unable to produce a full, corporeal Patronus, a guardian which generally takes the shape of the animal with whom they share the deepest affinity. You may suspect, but you will never truly know what form your Patronus will take until you succeed in conjuring it.'_ **

"You're supposed to concentrate on a happy memory," he clarified to Hinata, who just looked more confused. 

"That sounds easy," why were they learning this in their fifth year? 

Hinata frowned and rolled his shoulders. Happy memories? He had plenty of those. The question was which one? He tried to think about some of the times where he'd felt unbelievably happy; there was the holidays he spent with his family, when Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup, when him, Noya and Tanaka spent an entire Hogsmeade weekend pranking everyone in Madam Puddifoot's. He groaned and ruffled his hair. Which one was he supposed to choose?

"What the hell?!" someone let out a very undignified screech, and Hinata soon found that someone to be a panicked-looking Inuoka barrelling towards him. 

Hinata's eyes widened when he saw why Inuoka was so panicked. Behind him, albeit not appearing overly threatning as it bounced up and down on the stone floors, was a silvery seal. Hinata stared at it. It was an actual seal. Well, not like a real one, he could just about see through it, but it still was a seal, bouncing around the floor and occasionally jumping up and swimming through the air. 

"I did it! I've done it!" Koganegawa excitedly bounded after his seal as everyone in the class turned to see, looking jealously on as the seal jumped in the air and began to swim through it like it was water.

"A corpeal patronus..." Yamaguchi's whispered, "that's incredible."

"Woah!!" Hinata immediately ran after the boy, eyes' shining, "that's so cool! It's amazing!"

"I did it!" Koganegawa spun around grinning, towering over Hinata who was still staring at seal as it swam to the ground.

Koganegawa and Hinata's smiles mimicked the seal patronus as it faded away into a silvery wisp.

"It's gone," Hinata looked, upset, at the now empty air.

"Yeah," Koganegawa drooped but then brightened seconds later. "I'll get it back."

"I'm going to try too!" Hinata turned around and held his wand out in front of him. 

He frowned, one of his happiest memories? He closed his eyes and the first thing that came to his mind was the Quidditch Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff match last year. It'd been the first time he'd played against Kageyama, and it had been thrilling. He opened his eyes and recalled how it had felt, flying above everyone, watching the Quaffle pass between friends, to rivals and back again. He concentrated on when his eyes' had locked on the snitch and he dove down, flying after it, not even aware of where the Slytherin seeker was. 

"Expecto patronum!" He said loudly.

Nothing. His thoughts slowly continued on their own; after he'd caught the snitch, he'd been thrown in the air by Tanaka and Noya. Everyone had been laughing and clapping each other on the back. Then, something that Hinata would never forget, Kageyama had walked up to him, and even though he couldn't have sounded any less enthusiastic:

"Nice job," he's said gruffly.

And then stormed off, but that was the first time Kageyama had complimented him on his flying. Hinata wasn't aware of the smile that spread across his face as he remembered how he'd felt, he had been so proud, so happy that he was finally considered on the same level as someone like Kageyama. Someone who was able to get on the Quidditch Team on his first year, someone who was already being scouted by professional teams, someone that even though he would never ever admit it, Hinata looked up to because when you saw Kageyama flying through the air like his broom was an extension of his arms and legs, a part of his body, how could you not get excited, how could you not want to be able to fly next to him, to be soar along the sky as free as a bird? And that someone, that very someone, had told him he'd done a good job at the thing he loved most in the world.

White vapour came out of Hinata's wand, curling a meter in front of him. It didn't take a shape but Hinata loudly cheered. Kageyama appeared from behind someone's back, his face set in a glare. Hinata excitedly waved his wand around, the silver smoke-like substance still streaming from his wand, already forgetting he was supposed to be annoyed at him. Kageyama's glare turned into a look of surprise and he opened his mouth to say something but was knocked over by a silvery shape rolling around the room. 

"Sorry," Kunimi walked past Kageyama, unconcernedly throwing an apology over his shoulder as he followed his patronus, a large sloth, slowly rolling its way around the room, knocking over anyone that didn't move out of its way. 

The silvery mist that made up Hinata's patronus dissolved as he ran over to Kageyama who pushed himself back up. 

"You alright?" Hinata brushed off some dust from Kageyama's shirt. 

"I'm fine," Kageyama said gruffly, moving back slightly, and then stared at Hinata, "what did you think about?"

"Huh?" Hinata blinked and Kageyama scowled. 

"When you cast your patronus dumbass."

"Oh!" Hinata's understood and then scowled at Kageyama, sticking out his tongue, "you're the dumbass for not being able to cast it!"

Kageyama's eyebrow twitched and Hinata gulped.  _Oops._

Kageyama pushed Hinata out of the way and pointed his wand out in front of him. His eyes' narrowed. 

"Expecto patronum," he said. 

Silver mist burst from his wand and pooled around Kageyama and Hinata. Kageyama immediately smirked at Hinata, who looked away pouting. What did he expect though? Kageyama was just about as competitive as he was, and as soon as one of them did something, the other one had to do it as well. 

"Whatever. It's not a proper one," he said. 

Kageyama scowled at him, "yours wasn't a proper one either."

"Well, I would have if you hadn't distracted me!"

"No you wouldn't," Kageyama rolled his eyes.

"How'd you know? You can't even cast a proper patronus." 

"Neither can you!" Kageyama spluttered and Hinata, fresh out of comebacks just stuck out his tongue in response. 

"Neither of you got it," Yamaguchi looked between the two of them and sighed. "Me neither."

"Hinata! Look!" Inuoka ran over to the small group and Hinata noticed the silvery shape on his shoulder. 

When he got closer, he was able to make out the shape to be a small monkey, like a capuchin of some sorts. He couldn't help but be impressed, magic was so cool. And these silvery animals were the embodiment of their happiest memories. That was just too cool! He couldn't wait until he would be able to make his corpeal patronus. 

"Wooah!" he clapped his hands together. "It's so cool What'd ya think about?"

Inuoka grinned, "when we won the Quidditch Cup last year."

Hinata saw Kageyama scowling out of the corner of his eye but he smiled delightfully.

"I thought of that too!" 

He hadn't thought of _just_ winning the Quidditch Cup, but Inuoka, and especially Kageyama, didn't need to know that. 

"Still didn't work," Kageyama muttered.

Yep, Kageyama was going to know that the memory that Hinata used to produce an, albeit not full, patronus was one of him over Hinata's dead body. 

"Expecto patronum!" Hinata said loudly, spinning around and imagining Kageyama being set on fire. 

Not even a wisp. 

"Maybe we're not concentrating enough?" Yamaguchi looked through his book again. "Or we could not be at a high enough level of magic yet. The patronus charm is said to be one of the hardest charms to conjure."

"Monkey boy is not at a higher level than me," Kageyama gritted out. "He can't even pronounce spells right!"

Hinata looked offended, "it's not all about pronunciation!"

Although hundreds of deformed teacups and various charred, cracked and decimated household objects would argue otherwise. Hinata tried not to think about the ( _many_ ) times he'd accidentally pronounced a spell wrong and had it, sometimes literally, backfire in his face. 

"Maybe your memories aren't happy enough," Kunimi appeared again, making Hinata jump and retreat behind Kageyama. 

"Huh?" Kageyama glared at the boy, eyeing around him for his patronus. 

Kunimi shrugged and gave Kageyama a once-over and shrugged, "That's probably what _your_ problem is."

Hinata held Kageyama back as he glared at the retreating back of the Slytherin. Certain that his back was turned, Hinata stuck out his tongue as a sign of solidarity with Kageyama, stepping out from behind the latter with the usual bravado of one who somehow always manages to avoid any type of conflict. 

"Asshole," said Kageyama. 

Yamaguchi bit his lip and and looked at Kageyama a little nervously, "he may be right though."

"What?!" Hinata waved his wand around. "But my memory is super duper happy! Winning the Cup was one of the best things ever! It still makes me go all gwah!"

Kageyama rolled his eyes and looked at Yamaguchi, a small crease between his eyebrows. 

"W-well, it-it's just if, if you think it's not your, your concentration," Yamaguchi managed to stutter out under his stare. 

"My concentration is excellent," said Kageyama, crossing his arms, not arrogantly, not that that stopped Hinata from mockingly copying him, "it's shrimpy that's got a concentration problem."

"Hey!" Hinata hit his arm. 

Kageyama was so annoying sometimes. My concentration is excellent? Yeah, because only people with 'excellent concentration' accidentally set other people's brooms on fire. What an idiot, Hinata thought. But how could his memory not be happy enough? Hinata hadn't been lying when he said winning the Cup, and Kageyama recognising him, had been one of the greatest moments of his life. He didn't see how if that memory couldn't conjure up a corpeal patronus, none of his other ones stood a chance. But whilst he wasn't about to go bragging about his 'perfect concentration' he had been 100% focused on that memory. Maybe Yamaguchi was right. 

"Okay..." he said slowly, "so what do we do to get one?"

"A what?" Yamaguchi said. 

"A patronus," Kageyama said slowly, a little patronisingly, but seeing as it wasn't directed at him, Hinata giggled a little. 

It was always nice when Kageyama's snark was directed at someone else. Even if it was his friend, but Yamaguchi and Tsukishima laughed at him all the time! So he didn't feel bad. 

Yamaguchi looked at the two of them, obviously surprised, "you just wait. I mean, that seems the most logical? If you can't do it, you can't do it. It isn't really the sort of magic you can practice."

"Screw that," Kageyama scowled, "I'm not gonna lose to a guy who's patronus is literally a sloth."

"Yeah!" Hinata jumped up, agreeing heartily. 

Yamaguchi looked scared, "what are you going to do?"

Hinata opened his mouth and closed it again. He looked at Kageyama. Kageyama looked at him. Hinata patiently waited for the other to speak, to lay down for Yamaguchi, a master plan that would allow them all to get proper patronuses that could run around the room, jumping and knocking people over. He blinked, his eyebrow slowly beginning to raise as he continued to wait for him to say something.

"We have to..." Kageyama slowly began to talk and paused for an entirely too long time. 

"Yeah?" Hinata prompted him impatiently. "What do we have to do?"

"We have to...make happier memories?" He sounded very uncertain but to Hinata it actually sounded like a valid solution. 

The problem, as Yamaguchi said, was that their memories weren't happy enough. The solution: make happier memories. Why hadn't he thought of that? Although winning the Quidditch Cup was gonna be pretty hard to beat. 

"I don't think-" Yamaguchi started but Hinata interrupted him excitedly. 

"Okay!" he pointed at Kageyama with a confident grin. "I'm gonna get my patronus first! I'm gonna be first!"

Kageyama smirked his scary, but endearing, smirk back at him, "in your dreams shortie."

 

________________________________

 

Sometimes Iwaizumi questioned his state of mind. Sometimes he questioned Oikawa's, well most of the time he questioned Oikawa's. But sometimes he really questioned his own, and what had possessed him to make friends with Oikawa. Of course, he knew when that scrawny little boy with skin as pale as a porcelain, with hands tightly gripped into balls asking him to play, there was no way he was going to say no. But there were some moments where he really wondered what he'd done to deserve this. Especially in moments like these.

It'd been three weeks, and Oikawa still sulking. Iwaizumi had no idea what it was he sulking about, but he sure as hell wasn't apologising. 

"Iwaizumi why're you fownging?" Noya asked, his mouth full of toast. 

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Daichi scowled at him before going back to flicking through his Potions textbook. 

"It's nothing," Iwaizumi picked up his fork and continued to eat his lunch.

Noya shrugged, seemingly satisfied with that answer. The Gryffindor table was a bit quieter than usual, with Hinata most likely training and Tanaka and Yamamoto both struggling to finish their Defence Against the Dark Arts homework in the Gryffindor dorms before classes started again. Iwaizumi's gaze drifted over to the Slytherin table, where he could see Oikawa and Kuroo sluggishly eating their food. The atmosphere over there looked seriously depressing. Iwaizumi looked away. 

"Is your sister scared about the tournament?" Noya shoved another piece of toast into his mouth and stared at Lev. 

"No," he laughed, "she's hyped."

"Do we have any idea when the first task is?" Iwaizumi asked, a little curious. 

Lev shrugged, "none."

"The 4th judge hasn't arrived yet," Daichi said, "so probably not for another few weeks."

The little lunch group chatted some more, Iwaizumi more listening than talking, his mind elsewhere. Eventually Lev got up to get ready for his next class, and the Great Hall began to empty. Iwaizumi pursed his lips, he should probably start moving. 

"Hey Noya you coming?" a voice called out and the small group turned to see Ennoshita waving at their table. 

"Yeah!" Noya yelled back and stood up, brushing the crumbs off his robes. 

"I'll better be off too," Daichi shut his book and stood up too. 

"See you later," Iwaizumi said. 

He looked up at the clock hanging on the wall, he had ten minutes to get to charms but his classroom was only five minutes away. He looked around the table, most kids had already left to make their way to their respective classes. However there was someone still sitting there. Iwaizumi sighed and stood up. He walked a bit down the table and stopped in front of that someone. Kyoutani scowling, munching on his bacon, completely ignoring the fact classes would be starting soon. 

"Hey. Get to class," Iwaizumi said and the boy immediately turned to look at him before looking at the clock. 

"Fine," he said disgruntled, pulling himself off and making his way to his next class. 

Iwaizumi watched him go, shaking his head to himself. He walked back to grab his bag, swinging it over his shoulder and started to walk to Charms. He strode past the Slytherin table, eyeing it for a familiar head of brown hair. Not seeing anything, he continued on his way. He made his way down the corridor and pushed open the classroom door. Most students had already arrived and were sitting in their usual places, three weeks was plenty of time for everyone to make it clear which seat would be theirs for the rest of the year. 

Oikawa was already at their table, slouched with his head resting on his arms on the table in front of him. Iwaizumi walked over and chucked his bag over Oikawa's head and onto the table. Oikawa immediately rose up, a scowl on his face. As soon as he saw Iwaizumi, he made a loud 'hmpf' and dramatically turned his head in the other direction. Iwaizumi rolled his eyes and sat down in his seat. A few moments later, the prefect for Hufflepuff, Moniwa ran in and sat down next to him. 

"Good morning," he greeted the two of them, out of breath. 

"You okay?" Iwaizumi looked at him and he nodded with a sheepish smile. 

"A student asked me to help him find a class."

Iwaizumi frowned, "shouldn't the first years know their way around by now?"

"It was Hinata," admitted Moniwa and Iwaizumi heard Oikawa snort behind him. 

"Alright class. Let's settle down," Professor Takeda called out, practically exuding good cheer in waves. "Okay everyone. We'll be continuing to practice the water-making spell today. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to come up and ask. Okay?"

There was a scattered yes and Professor Takeda returned to his desk, humming cheerfully to himself as he opened a book. 

"I'm so bad at this," mumbled Moniwa, pulling out his textbook, "I can never get it right."

Iwaizumi decided against mentioning he'd got it on his first try.

"Let's see," Moniwa's eyes ran over the small text, his hand absentmindly rolling his wand on the desk, "okay."

He moved his wand, as if he was drawing a wave, " _aguamenti_."

A single drop of water escaped from the tip of his wand, swelled up and floated in front of them for a few seconds before falling down splashing the floor. Moniwa leant and stared over the edge of his desk and then sat back in his chair. 

"Close," Iwaizumi offered, feeling bad for the guy. 

"Yeah," Moniwa didn't seem convinced.

"Try moving your wand more," Iwaizumi said, pulling out his wand from his pocket, "like this."

He moved his wand up, down and then up again in a large exaggerated 'S' shape and said clearly, " _aguamenti_ "

A stream of water shot out from his wand, dousing the head of the person sitting in front of him. 

"Heyyy!" they turned around with a frown. 

"Sorry," said Iwaizumi and he could see Moniwa trying not to laugh next to him. 

Out of the corner of his eye he could also make out Oikawa shaking slightly and he couldn't help but grin to himself. He wiped the tip of his wand on the sleeve of his robe and nodded at Moniwa. 

"So that's how you do it," he said confidently.

"Yeah," Moniwa laughed, "thanks."

Iwaizumi watched as Moniwa started to practice, with the drop of water gradually growing it a small stream. He turned to look at the board, to see if there was anything else he needed to do, and noticed Oikawa hadn't done anything yet. He immediately frowned. 

"Oi Shittykawa," he said. 

Oikawa pointedly lifted his head from the head and rested on his hand, staring at the opposite side of the room. Iwaizumi rolled his eyes and considered ignoring him. He had been ignoring him for the past two weeks, and ignoring Oikawa had never been his strong suit, just like dealing with being ignored wasn't Oikawa's strong suit either. Iwaizumi picked up his wand and pointed it at the blank piece of paper in front of Oikawa. 

Slowly a stream of ink seeped out from his wand and towards the paper. Iwaizumi knew Oikawa was watching. The ink spread out, and Iwaizumi visualised something in his mind. The ink moved around, and two stick figures on brooms appeared on the paper and then three goal posts. The stick figures threw a spot of ink between them before one of them threw threw the goal posts and the ink changed colour, jumping off the page and into the air, like miniature fireworks. Iwaizumi was pretty proud of himself and Oikawa turned to look at him. Iwaizumi snorted, there was a spot of ink on Oikawa's cheek. The Slytherin vice-captain stared at him for a few seconds and then grinned. 

"Iwa-chan, you're a terrible drawer."

Immediately Iwaizumi scowled, "shut up. I'd like to see you try."

Oikawa giggled, "I wouldn't want to embarass you Iwa-chan. It looks like you tried really hard."

"Hold still, you've got ink on your face," Iwaizumi pretended to reach into his bag as he pointed his wand at Oikawa. " _Aguamenti_!"

The stream of water hit Oikawa square in the face.

"Iwa-chan!" he spluttered and the class dissolved into laughter. 

Iwaizumi grinned and turned back to the front, "you deserved that."

"Is everything okay?" Professor Takeda peered over the top of his book and Iwaizumi bowed his head. 

"Everything's fi-"

"Professor I've been-" Iwaizumi covered Oikawa's mouth with his hand.

"Fine, sir," his hand moved from Oikawa's mouth to the back of Oikawa's head and pushed it down on the desk as he had begun to feel something disgustingly like saliva on the palm of his hand, "just practicing."

"Oh okay," Professor Takeda smiled at him, "good luck, it's quite a difficult one to master so do ask if you need any help."

"Yes sir."

As soon as Takeda's head was once again buried in a book, Iwaizumi removed his hand with a disgusted groan. 

"Did you bite me?" he said incredulously, looking at Oikawa who was running his hands 'to fix' his hair. 

"You deserved it," Oikawa mimicked Iwaizumi. 

He glared at him, "I'll hit you."

"Sorry Iwa-chan," Oikawa laughed at him. 

 

________________________________

 

Kenma had never met people like Nishinoya Yuu and Tanaka Ryuunosuke. Their disregard of rules and just common sense in general was, in fact so utterly complete, that it was somewhat impressive. Kenma has good at Potions, in fact he'd learnt how to brew a Polyjuice potion as well as Amorentia in his fourth and fifth year respectively for no reason other than pure boredom. As such, he had expected this lesson to be very much that: boring. However, he shouldn't have underestimated the two Gryffindor's ability to make things interesting. While he'd been sharing a Potions class with them for three weeks, they hadn't done anything practical yet, mostly having done theory. 

So Kenma's impression of Nishinoya and Tanaka had been that they were loud, annoying and hated anything that involved them having to sit still and listen and/or take notes with a passion. He was beginning, however, to reevaluate. They were still loud and annoying there was no doubt about that, but they were also serious daredevils. And Kenma couldn't help but be a little impressed by anyone who was brave enough to try new things. Throughout the entire lesson, the two had been cackling and randomly throwing things into their cauldron, and waving off the Professor whenever he came to check on them. 

"So, Kozume, you any good at Potions?" 

Kenma's partner Fukunaga tended not to talk very much, which suited Kenma just fine, despite the odd mumble and then chuckle on Fukunaga's part. He nodded in response and Fukunaga was satisfied. 

"Cool. Let's finish quickly then," he flipped through the pages of his textbook and muttered under his breath. "Polyjuice, polyjuice, polyjuice..."

Finally he found the page and scanned over it before tilting it towards Kenma, "wanna have a look?"

Kenma shook his head and Fukunaga looked a little surprised but didn't question it. He stood up and went to the front table where various ingredients where laid out, Kenma followed him. He dragged his eyes' over the ingredients, already prepared for them. That made making the potions ten times easier, as most of the time was spent preparing the ingredients. 

"Get a bircorn horn Ryuu!" Nishinoya shouted from the back and Professor Ukai looked up suspiciously. 

"Have you done everything?" he asked, looking at Tanaka who was making his way up to the front. 

Tanaka nodded proudly, "of course sir!"

Ukai looked as if he was going to argue but didn't say anything, keeping an eye on Tanaka. Fukunaga chuckled to himself, before picking the lacewing flies, knotgrass and fluxweed and walking back to the table at the back of the classroom. That left Kenma to collect the leeches, the bicorn horn and the boomslang skin. His nose turned up and he tried not to look sick as he reached out towards the small pot of leeches. Kenma liked animals, but he was not a fan of things that sucked your blood. Blood belonged inside the body, seeing it anywhere but just made him queasy. 

"Need some help champion?" a scary looking boy with a died mohawk and thick eyebrows. 

"I'm fine," said Kenma grabbing the pot with gritted teeth and going to reach for boomslang skin, and hesitating. 

"Lemme help ya," without hesitation the boy picked up the skin and looked at Kenma questioningly. "What else?"

Kenma decided glaring at him would be too much effort. 

"Bicorn horn," he said and the boy picked it up. 

Without waiting for Kenma, the boy made his way to Fukunaga's desk and Kenma trailed after him. 

"Fukunaga!" he said cheerily and dropped all the stuff on his desk. 

"Tora," Fukunaga seemed to know him as he greeted him and then smiled at Kenma as the latter quietly put the pot of leeches on the desk. 

"Whatcha doing?" the boy leaned over Fukunaga and Kenma's cauldron and stared before looking back up. "There's nothing in here."

Fukunaga shrugged and didn't answer him. 

"This is Yamamoto," he said, instead to Kenma, "most people ignore him so feel free."

"Oi I can hear you!" Yamamoto scowled but didn't look upset looking at Kenma curiously. "You're pretty scrawny for a champion."

Kenma scowled at him, "you're pretty loud."

Fukunaga chuckled and threw some fluxweed into the cauldron as Yamamoto laughed loudly. He hung around some more, chatting to Fukunaga about girls or something and other. Kenma kept an eye on their potion, but Fukunaga had a steady hand and followed the instructions to a t. Kenma would occasionally throw an ingredient in or give it a stir, but he wasn't above admitting it was Fukunaga that did most of the work.

"Right," Fukunaga looked down at the bubbling mixture, "now, we wait."

Kenma nodded and settled back down onto his chair, Fukunaga doing the same. Kenma stared at the board, his mind drifting to the Triwizard Tournament. He had been trying not to think about it but Yamamoto had reminded him. He hadn't spoken to the other champions since they'd been brought into that room, so he could only assume they were as much in the dark as he was as to what the first task would be. 

He was brought of his thoughts out of his thought by a loud explosion making him jump, followed by:

"Nishinoya! Tanaka!"

"Shit!"

Kenma looked over just in time to see Tanaka ripping off his shirt and trying to use to clear the smoke rising from their cauldron. 

Nishinoya popped up from behind the table, his face streaked with black and something green dripping down his chin. 

"Dude. What happened?" he looked at Tanaka, who's entire head had turned bright green. 

Ennoshita stormed over to their desk, "what the hell are the two of you doing?"

"Clean up please." Professor Ukai called out from the front of the class, not bothering to look up. 

"Just following the recipe!" Tanaka scowled, staring into their now empty but still smoking cauldron. 

"No you weren't," Ennoshita said sternly, "you were messing around."

"Ennoshita!" Noya said indignant, before bending over in a coughing fit before standing back up. "We would never!"

"We were!" Tanaka echoed him, his shirt hanging loosely from his fist.

"Our Potion would never have worked anyways!" Noya suddenly proclaimed.

"That I can agree with," Ennoshita muttered under his breath but Noya ignored him and continued.

"Even if we got to the last part," he reached out and rubbed Tanaka's bald head, "Ryuu hasn't got any hair anyways!"

"It's a useless affair," Tanaka nodded in agreement. 

"Shut up, both of you," Ennoshita said sternly and the two immediately clammed their mouths shut. "And Tanaka put your shirt back on."

Tanaka complied, albeit much less enthusiastically than he'd taken it off. 

"Clean this up," Ennoshita waved at their trashed workplace.

Kenma shifted slightly to get a better look. It was impressive the amount of damage one small cauldron of potion had done. The entire desk was coated in a slimy green substance, and there were questionable smoking lumps scattered around the desk. The cauldron itself had been reduced to half its size, the top of it having been completely disintegrated by whatever it was the two had been making. Tanaka and Noya mumbled and grumbled but obeyed. They grabbed cloths and scrubbed at their desk as Ennoshita supervised them. 

"Good thing Ennoshita's here," Fukunaga observed and Kenma agreed with him. 

The door opened and Professor Takeda poked his head around in the classroom. 

"Ukai," he called out and the Potions Professor looked up.

"Huh?"

"You were supposed to bring Kozume Kenma to the wand weighing ceremony."

Almost unanimously, the entire class turned to stare at Kenma, who shrunk down into the collar of his uniform. 

"Kozume?" the tone of Ukai's voice was enough to confirm that he had no idea who Kenma even was. "Oh yes, well off you go then."

Kenma stood up and quickly made his way out of the room, with an unwelcome shout of encouragement from Yamamoto. 

"Go get 'em Kozume!"

"I'm sorry about this," Professor Takeda apologised as he hurried along, Kenma scurrying along behind him, "I shouldn't have expected Ukai to remember anything if it's not related to Quidditch. You have your wand don't you?"

Kenma nodded and then remembered the Professor probably couldn't see him. 

"Yes."

His hand automatically went to his pocket as he pulled out the wooden stick. It looked so normal. In fact, it looked a little worse for wear. It was covered in fingerprints from where Kenma would fidget with it whenever he was nervous, which was a lot. Kenma looked down at his wand, he didn't even know what the core of his wand was. The wandmaker he'd bought it from had had no clue. But it was the only wand that had responded to Kenma, so that wand it had been. 

"Alright, here we are," Professor Takeda stopped outside a door and motioned for Kenma to go in with a smile, "good luck!"

Kenma stepped into the room and swallowed when everyone, for the second time today, turned to stare at him.

"Kenma!" Alisa immediately called out to him cheerfully. "You're here!"

"Yeah," he quickly pottered over to where the two champions were sitting, Ushijima giving him a curt nod as he did. 

He sat down at the desks and looked around. They were in a small classroom, with an man that Kenma didn't recognise and the Hogwarts Headmaster standing at the front of the room. There was also the Headmaster of Beauxbatons, Professor Nekomata and another old man that Kenma guessed was the Headmaster of Dumstrang. 

"Okay," Professor Ukai Sr clapped his hands together, "now that all our champions are here, let's begin. Ollivander, I'll let you explain."

The man standing next to the headmaster stepped forward so that he was standing in front of the three champions. The headmasters of the three schools all retreated, sitting down on chairs at the back of the classroom. There was something rather wispy about the man, he wasn't particularly old, but it looked like a strong gust of wind would cause him to dissolve into the air. He cleared his throat.

"As you all know the only object you are allowed during the tasks are your wands."

Alisa and Ushijima nodded and Kenma blinked. He hadn't know that. In fact he realised, he the only thing he knew more about this Tournament than a few weeks ago was that he was in it. He probably really should start researching or something. 

"So, it is a tradition but also a necessity that we make sure your wands are in perfect functioning condition. And that is the purpose of this wand weighing ceremony, to make sure your wands have no problems so that _you_ won't have any problems during the tasks."

Kenma was going to have problems with these tasks whatever condition his wand is in. 

"I am Thomas Ollivander and I will be ensuring all of your wands are working correctly, Ushijima is it? Would you like to come up first?"

Kenma looked on surprised. There was no messing around. Ushijima stood up and handed his wand to Mr Ollivander. It was polished and lightly coloured, with a carved handle and completely straight, everything about it was poised and elegant. Mr Ollivander took the wand, holding it up in his fingers and there a small spark from the tip. He nodded to himself and brought it closer to his eyes. 

"Let's see," he mumbled, "13 and a half inches...unyielding and...how unusual," he looked up at Ushijima, "a thunderbird feather?"

Ushijima nodded, seeming a little surprised.

"My father," he said by means of explanation, which to Kenma explained nothing more than the fact he  _had_ a father. 

Ollivander ran his fingers over the wand, "ah elm. A good sophisticated wood, produces the fewest mistakes and least foolish errors my grandfather used to say."

Kenma had never heard of a wand having a thunderbird feather as a core before, and stared at in awe. He then gazed in admiration at Mr Ollivander, how he'd been able to tell all that stuff Kenma had no idea. He couldn't even tell what the length was. Mr Ollivander pointed the wand in front of him and made it spit out bright sparks that fizzled out before they could reach the floor. Mr Ollivander smiled at Ushijima and gave him his wand back. 

"In perfect condition," he said. 

Alisa was next and she excitedly stood up, and almost ran to give her wand to Mr Ollivander. Kenma looked at it. It was darker than Ushijima's but a lot more ornate. Its handle was decorated with gold, and there were curly carving lines across the entire wand. Mr Ollivander took it from her and began examining it. 

"10 inches...brittle...rosewood and...the hair of a kelpie, if I'm not mistaken?"

Alisa shook her head brightly, "yep! In Russia most of us have a kelpie hair as their wand core."

"I see," Mr Ollivander didn't look particularly enthused but pointed Alisa's wand out in front of him and a thin jet of steam escaped from the tip. 

He nodded and gave it back to her, "all working fine."

Finally it was Kenma's turned and he nervously rubbed the end of his wand as he made his way up and handed his wand to Mr Ollivander. It was much paler than Alisa's, and even Ushijima's, being almost white in colour. It was also much less polished and smooth than the other two, covered in small bumps and blemishes with its handle just jutting out crudely from the wand itself. Mr Ollivander took his wand and twirled it around in his fingers, immediately Kenma's wand emmited a low wailing sound and dark substance began to ooze out of its tip. Kenma stared horrified. 

"Is it broken?" Alisa asked.

"Oh no," Mr Ollivander didn't look nearly as concerned as Kenma felt he should, as the man wiped away the sludge from the tip the wand, the wailing quieting down, "it's just a bit temperamental."

Kenma was too worried about his wand not functioning properly to be offended. Mr Ollivander stared at it a little longer, running his fingers up and down, looking at the tip and then at the handle. 

"Very interesting," he muttered, "11 and a half inches...supple, and definitely pine, however..."

Mr Ollivander frowned thoughtfully. He pointed the wand out in front of him and bubbles slowly began to emerge from the tip, floating up and popping on the ceiling. He gave it back to Kenma, staring at the boy intensely. Kenma uncomfortably retreated back to his seat, grasping his wand tightly. Mr Ollivander looked away and turned to the headmasters. 

"I'm glad to say all their wands are in great condition. They should have no problems at all."

"Excellent," headmaster Nekomata stood up and grinned at Kenma, "good luck in the Tournament."

The dumstrang headmaster glared fiercely at Alisa.

"I expect a victory," he said. 

"Aye aye Professor Washijo," Alisa didn't seem at all intimidated and answered cheerfully. 

"Do your best brats," Professor Ukai Sr grinned at all of them. "You can go back to class."

Kenma was only too pleased to escape. He quickly made his way out the room, despite not being entirely sure what his next class was. Alisa and Ushijima both followed him out, the former giving him a wave goodbye before going on her way. Kenma started to make his way down the staircase however was stopped by someone calling out his name. He turned around the see Mr Ollivander walking behind him. 

"Kozume," he slowed down as he got closer and paused. 

"Yes?" Kenma asked, very confused. 

"I'm curious," the wandmaker looked at him in the eye, "do you happen to know what you wand core is?"

Kenma shook his head and Mr Ollivander pursed his lips. 

"Very interesting."

"Huh?" Kenma didn't like the noise of complete and utter confusion he made, but in his defence he was completely and utterly confused. 

"You see Mr Kozume, I've been a wandmaker for years. But I've never seen a wand like yours, and it's not the wood, although pine is rare enough that's true, they're drawn to those destined to have long lives but also those who use magic creatively. But no, it's not the wood," he paused, "it's the core. I've never come across that core before, and I have to admit I'm unsure as it was it is. I thought perhaps a kelpie, but it's much too strong for that...it could be unicorn, they do bond strongly to their users, but surely I would have recognised it..."

Mr Ollivander trailed off, staring at Kenma. The latter's quickly looked down and shuffled his feet. 

"You have a very interesting wand Mr Kozume," Mr Ollivander smiled kindly at him, "I'm curious to see where it takes you."

Mr Ollivander turned around and made his way back up the stairs, disappearing back into the little classroom. Kenma stared after him. Surely his wand wasn't that unique? It was probably just the hair of a unicorn foal, which would explain why Mr Ollivander couldn't recognise it. He shrugged to himself, what did it matter? His wand was in working condition, whatever the core of it was. He pulled his timetable out of his bag and scanned it quickly before shoving it back in, smiling to himself. He had a break next.

He decided to go to the library and walked down the stairs. He turned the corner and when his eyes saw the person at the other end of the corridor, he froze. Kuroo noticed him just a second later and immediately grinned and put a hand up to wave. 

"Kenma!" he called out cheerily.

Kenma's legs moved on their own as he backed up around the corner, and as soon as he was out sight in an act of unusual athleticism he took to his heels and he ran away.

 

________________________________

 

Michiyima turned the page of her Ancient Runes textbook and did her best to ignore everyone around her. It was a futile effort, and she should have known better to try and do her homework at a table full off overdramatic drama queens. Oikawa for some reason, was extremely happy, despite his shirt being damp for some reason and sticking to his skin in a manner that was Michiyima had to admit, probably uncomfortable for him, but very pleasing to the entire female population of Hogwarts and probably quite a bit of the male population too. 

"Anyways me and Iwa-chan are going to do go study in the library when classes are over," Oikawa continued with his riveting story. 

"It's Iwa-chan and I," Kuroo's voice floated over to correct him, with his head down, cheek pressed against the table and facing the other way entirely. 

"No it's not! It's Iwa-chan and _me_ ," Oikawa scowled at him even though he very obviously wasn't looking in his direction, "you're not invited."

"Whatever," Kuroo replied back and Michiyima looked over at him. 

"Um, are you okay Kuroo?" she called out.

"I'm in a bad mood," he said, before standing up and dragging himself away. 

"No shit," Oikawa watched him go with one eyebrow raised prissily, "he's been in a 'bad mood' all week and it was finally getting better."

"And now he's back to moping again," Suga observed. "Something must be bothering him."

Michiyima wasn't sure whether she liked Sugawara or not. Everyone else seemed to, and he was always very nice to her. But there was just something off about him. It was similar, although not identical, vibe she could got from Terushima and sometimes even from Oikawa. Like there was an aspect of them, that she couldn't quite pinpoint, that was fake. Terushima less so, her vibe of him was more he was just severely lacking in common sense, but Suga and Oikawa she would sometimes just get chills looking at them for no reason other than the look in their eyes. She knew it was unfair of her to act so off putting, especially when Sugawara was a foreign student and all, but she couldn't help it. 

"Tsukishima, you and the Captain are friends right?" Terushima asked the blonde boy. "Any idea what's up with him?"

Tsukishima glared at him. 

"I am not friends with him," he gritted it out. 

"Geez okay," Terushima looked at him, "no need to get so angry."

"Are you okay Tsukishima?" Suga asked concerned. "You don't look very well."

Michiyima looked at the younger boy. He looked basically the same to her, maybe he was a little paler than usual, but it was winter. 

"I'm fine," Tsukishima said curtly, quickly finishing off his lunch and leaving the table as soon as he did. 

"Asshole," muttered Shirabu under his breath and Michiyima immediately glared at him. 

He was a foreign student but was already competing with Tsukishima for Slytherin Saltiest Sod. Michiyima had always considered Tsukishima to easily hold first place, but Shirabu was slowly crawling his way up to the top. Other of Michiyima's little mind comps included Gryffindor's Grumpiest Grouch, Hufflepuff's Happiest Hooligan and Ravenclaw's Rudest Rascal with Kentaro Kyoutani, Kentaro Bokuto and Satori Tendo respectively being at the top of each of her little lists. Perhaps she was too proud their names. No, she was definitely too proud of their names. 

"Be nice," she said and he only rolled his eyes in response. 

"Anyways," Oikawa, "Does anyone know who the 4th judge is?"

Michiyima frowned, she'd forgotten there was going to be a additional judge to the 3 headmasters, "I've got no clue."

"Sugawara any ideas?" Oikawa asked and Suga hesitated. 

"Well, no, not really," he said uncertainly, "why?"

"Because I need to tell them what a terrible mistake choosing that terrible guy as our Hogwarts champion was when we could have had someone like Iwa-chan!"

"Well, Iwaizumi didn't even enter-" Michiyima started but Oikawa cut her off. 

"So I need to know who it is."

"R-right..." Suga looked confused and Michiyima couldn't blame him. 

Oikawa didn't make rivalries easily, he'd been challenged by hundreds of younger students looking to impress by defeating one of the best chasers in the school (and he'd beaten them all without breaking a sweat) but when he did, he hold on to them with an iron grip and made sure the entire school knew. 

"He should be arriving soon," Terushima said, "the first trial  _is_ next week."

"Is it really?" Suga looked surprised. "So soon."

"Not really," Oikawa shrugged, "I would've thought they'd hold it _after_ the Quidditch matches. But apparently not."

"I wonder how the champions are feeling," Terushima's eyes widened, "we need to make banners! Show our support for our champion."

"You make banners for Ushiwaka and I will smother you in your sleep," Oikawa said seriously.

Terushima stared at him, "you're joking."

"I think he might be serious," Suga said with a serene smile on his face. 

Your words don't match your expression at all!! Michiyima thought. 

"Alright then!" Terushima looked disgruntled. "Who are you supporting then?"

"Hm," Oikawa tilted his head thoughtfully, "definitely not _that_ guy, and I don't really care for the other two."

"You're a terrible person," Michiyima said ruefully and Oikawa only smiled winningly. 

"I think I'll cheer on the pudding head."

"What?!" Terushima yelled. "Why? He looks so weak!"

"Terushima!" Michiyima hissed. "Do you want to get stupified again?"

Terushima waved his hand, "Kuroo's not here. And I've no idea what his deal is with that kid anyways."

"I like to root for the underdog," Oikawa said. 

"You do not," Terushima bit into a banana and muttered under his breath.

"What was that?"

Terushima coughed and Suga quickly handed him a cup of water. 

"Nothing, nothing," he grinned at Oikawa who raised an eyebrow, disbelief evident on his face but obviously not caring enough to pursue it. 

Michiyima shut her textbook and slipped it into her bag, "we should get going, class is going to start soon."

Sugawara immediately followed her lead and stood up, "Michiyima is right, we wouldn't want to be late."

Much less enthusiastically the rest of the table stood up, each making their way to their respective classes.

 

________________________________

 

"Is everything okay with Kuroo?" Asahi asked and Yaku reflexively turned to look at the Slytherin captain. 

"He's fine," he said. 

"Really?"

"He's just in one of his moods. One of his cats probably ignored him or something."

"Oh okay," Asahi didn't look convinced and Yaku turned around again. 

Kuroo was slumped against his desk, drawing patterns onto the wood with his finger. Yaku grimaced, maybe Asahi was right. Kuroo really did seem to be in terrible mood, enough to rival Bokuto when he went into his emo mode even. 

"I'll go talk to him," he said and stood up, making his way to Kuroo's desk. 

Kuroo didn't even bother looking up as he sat down next to him. Yaku pursed his lips. 

"Why do you look so depressed?" he asked.

"I'm not depressed," Kuroo answered and turned his head to face Yaku, "I'm reflecting."

"Uh huh. How about reflecting less miserably then?"

Kuroo straightened and raised an eyebrow, "what if I'm reflecting on something that makes me miserable?"

"Then do something else," Yaku said, "and lighten up. You're sucking the light out of every room like you're a vacuum."

"I've been called worst," Kuroo lay his head back on the table despondently and Yaku rolled his eyes. 

"Don't tempt me," he answered standing up and going back to his own desk. 

Asahi looked up as Yaku sat back down. 

"He'll be fine," Yaku said. 

"Will he?" Asahi looked at Kuroo, who had sunk even further down into his seat. 

"Yeah."

Yaku knew Kuroo, he didn't let things get to him easily. Most things slipped off him like his skin was a slimy as his smile, but when things got him down it was probably better to just let him stew and get over it on his own. 

"Alright class. You have homework. Don't forget to do it," Professor Mizoguchi glared at the class and there was a chorus of yeses.

Yaku bid goodbye to Asahi and made his way out of the classroom. He let out a sigh when he remembered what he had next. He had regretted agreeing to tutor Alisa's younger brother as soon as he had said yes to her, and that regret had not abated one bit in the week leading up to the tutoring. He wasn't against helping youngers kids study, and tutoring Kageyama hadn't been an awfully scarring experience, despite the latter's abysmal spellwork. It was just a big commitment in his last year of school.

But he'd agreed and he wasn't about to go back on his word, so off to the library to find Lev Haiba he was. He reached the library, that was surprisingly empty, considering it was lunch break. He walked around the tables before finally spotting a head of silver hair at the corner of the library. He walked over and the boy immediately looked up, large cat-like eyes staring at him.

"Lev Haiba?" Yaku questioned, already knowing the answer - he looked so strikingly similar to his sister, it was a wonder they weren't twins. 

"Yeah. You're Yaku?" Lev grinned at him and Yaku nodded. 

He pulled out a chair and sat down, putting his bag down on the seat next to him. Lev looked at him up and down curiously. 

"Are you really a seventh year?"

"Yeah," Yaku frowned, "why?"

"You're pretty short for an eighteen year old," Lev said offhandedly. 

Yaku's eye twitched and he gritted his teeth, forcing a smile. 

"Right..."

He pulled out some books from his bags, trying (and failing) not to slam them on the table. Lev looked a little surprised but then grinned again. 

"Those look heavy," he said. 

_You say anything about my arms being small-_

"Are they spellbooks?"

"Um, yeah," Yaku nodded, "and other subjects. Your sister didn't specify what you needed help with so..."

Yaku looked at Lev. Lev just stared at him. Oh boy. 

"So what do you need help with?"

"Oh!" Lev laughed. "Okay, well I don't think I really need help, I'm not that bad at spells and stuff but I'm really good at Quidditch."

"Good for you, but subjects wise..."

Lev's enthusiasm faded slightly, "I guess...Transfiguration."

Yaku nodded, "that's pretty common."

"And Potions," Lev added, a little more confidently. 

Yaku nodded, "most people find it difficult to-"

"Defence against the Dark Arts."

"Yes, it can be tricky someti-"

"Charms."

"Well wand movements-"

"Herbology."

"I guess you have to get it-"

"History of Magic."

"You can't be serious," Yaku stared at Lev in total shock, "history of magic, really?"

Lev nodded at him innocently, "yeah! I can never remember all that stuff. It's so boring and I'd much rather be-"

"Playing Quidditch, yeah," Yaku sighed and then muttered, "why am I always stuck teaching the Quidditch nuts?"

"Whaddya say?"

"Nothing. What should we start with?"

"I thought you organised this stuff."

Yaku gritted his teeth,

"I'm your tutor, not your mother," he said slowly and Lev looked at him with wide eyes.

"Never mind," Yaku sighed. "Let's just start with something not too hard. How about some charms?"

"Cool!" Lev shuffled his chair closer to Yaku.

"What are you practicing in class at the moment?"

"Um, some spell to bring objects to you?"

"The summoning charm," Yaku brightened, "good. Usually you learn this one in your fourth year so it shouldn't be too difficult for you."

"Yeah," Lev nodded.

Yaku waited patiently with Lev simply staring at him.

"Your wand," Yaku prompted him.

"Yeah, what about it?"

_Oh my god. This kid is even worse than Kageyama._

"Get out your wand and show me your summoning charm so I can tell you what you're doing wrong," Yaku said, repressing his anger but too annoyed now to even bother pretending to smile.

He was going to be mature and help this useless bean pole of a wizard get onto the Quidditch team. He was going to be calm and helpful, not matter how stupid the younger boy was going to be, although Yaku seriously hoped it wasn't going to get any worse than this.

"Oh okay!" Lev pulled out his wand and Yaku wanted to bang his head against the table.

The thing was needlessly expensive. Its light brown wood polished and its handle decorated with carvings and wood that curled around the bottom. Yaku had always been of the opinion that the simpler the wand, the better it performed, no useless decorations getting in the way of the magic.

"Okay," Lev said.

"Try summoning that book over there," Yaku pointed to a book on a nearby shelf and Lev stared at it.

" _Accio_!" he said loudly.

Nothing happened. Lev slowly lowered his wand and Yaku frowned, "that should have-"

There was a loud creak and Yaku's eyes widened. The entire bookshelf leant forward, books falling onto the ground as the whole thing tilted, ready to crash into their desk.

"Shit!" Lev tried to get out of his chair and Yaku quickly whipped out his wand.

" _Arresto Momentum_!" he cried and the bookshelf slowed to a halt just a second before hitting Lev in the face, who was frozen standing up in his chair, mouth wide open.

He flicked his wand back and the bookshelf fell back into its place. Yaku pointed his wand at the floor and the books flew back into the shelves, neatly reorganising themselves. Just as he was finished, the librarian poked her head around the corner and stared at the two of them with a baleful eye.

"Are you boys behaving?" she asked and Lev quickly sat down.

"Of course," Yaku smiled at her, "just doing some tutoring."

"I see, please keep quiet," she disappeared back around the corner with a disbelieving huff.

"Woah! That was so cool! How did you do that?! Was that non-verbal magic? That was incredible, you're so small and that bookshelf was so massive, I thought for sure you were gonna get crushed!"

"How about I show you how to do a proper summoning charm?" Yaku smiled at Lev who nodded back.

"Yeah okay!"

Yaku pointed his wand at the books, choosing a particularly thick one.

"Accio."

The book shot out of the shelf and Yaku gave a little, almost unnoticeable flick and it smacked right into Lev's face, before sliding down and onto his lap. Yaku wanted to laugh but he resisted and simply looked at Lev instead.

"Sorry about that."

Lev picked up the book and then squinted at Yaku.

"Did you do that on purpose?" he said accusingly and Yaku raised an eyebrow. 

"Call me short again and you'll find out," he casually twirled his wand in his fingers and Lev quietened. 

Yaku briefly wondered if he'd overdone it, but it seemed like Lev was incapable of keeping quiet for any longer than a few minutes. 

"You're very good at magic," he observed and Yaku shrugged in response, his anger mostly abated now.

"I'm not bad."

"I'm terrible," Lev admitted, "but I guess you can't be good at Quidditch and magic."

"Just try practicing," Yaku suggested, deciding to ignore that particular comment. "Have another go, here."

He pulled out some sweets from his bag and put them on the table. 

"Try summoning one of these."

It turned Yaku had severely underestimated just how awful Lev's spellcasting was. It took the boy a good twenty minutes before he even managed to summon a single sweet, and he also blinded himself doing so, shooting it right into his eye. Yaku did have to admit Lev was right though, he may be terrible at magic but he was obviously in great physical condition, his reflexes letting him catch it before it hit him. As for the rest of the sweets, Yaku had no idea where they'd gone, shot off in all sorts of different directions when Lev had tried summoning them. 

"I did it!" Lev cheered and showed Yaku the sweet as if it had changed shape.

"Well done," Yaku couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm, it wasn't perfect, but it was a start. 

"Here," Lev handed him the sweet but Yaku shook his head with a small smile. 

"That's your prize for getting it."

"Really? Thanks!" Lev looked delighted. 

Yaku felt his cheeks heat up a little and he coughed, "yeah, well, you still needs lots of practice."

"I think I got it though! Do I really need to practice more?" Lev whinged and Yaku nodded firmly. 

"Yes, otherwise you'll just get worse again, instead of getting better."

"I never had to practice like this at my old school," Lev muttered, "being good at Quidditch was good enough." 

Yaku frowned, "I thought Dumstrang was really strict about this stuff."

Lev looked at him. 

"I wasn't talking about-" the younger boy cut himself off and his eyes took on a distant look. 

"What?" Yaku said. 

"Nothing," Lev shook his head. "You said I had to practice?"

"Um yeah...just practice the summoning charm for now, and next time we'll do something else. "Okay?"

"Yep," Lev stood up, "I'll see you later!"

Yaku waved him off and as soon as the boy had left, he let his head against the table. 

_What had he got himself into?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A proper chapter yayyy! I had so much fun writing this :)


	8. Looking Back & Falling Forward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> thank you all so much for reading + commenting! It really means a lot ≧◡≦

Yachi looked at Kageyama in surprise. It wasn't common for him to ask questions, much less such philosophical ones. 

"How do you make happy memories?" Inuoka repeated thoughtfully, and then nodded. "That's a very good question."

Kageyama didn't say anything but stared at the two of them across the table, seriously sipping on a carton of milk. Yachi swallowed nervously and looked back down at her plate. It was a little bit of a weird question in her opinion. You didn't really ask people how to make happy memories did you? Didn't you just go out and kind of just...make them?

"I suppose you just do things that make you happy...and then they'll be in your memory..." she said hesitantly and Kageyama scowled. 

"That isn't working."

"Not a lot other than Quidditch gets past your thick skull that's true!" Inuoka laughed cheerfully. 

Yachi and Kageyama both stared at him. 

"What?" he asked. 

"Never mind," Yachi said and then looked at Kageyama who had started to chew on his straw, obviously irritated. 

"Forget it," he said and Yachi quickly shook her hands. 

"No! No, no, no! Let's think of something!" 

Inuoka looked at her, a bit surprised at her sudden enthusiasm, "why does it matter so much?"

Yachi wasn't about to admit that the reason she wanted to help Kageyama was because she always got the impression that boy didn't like her, despite Hinata reassuring her multiple times that was the impression pretty much everyone got. In any case, she wanted to get on with him and if helping him with his weirdly philosophical question was the way to do it, then that was what she was going to do. 

"It's important!" Yachi said. "Happy memories are really important for all sorts of spells!"

Inuoka clicked his fingers, very easily convinced, "you're right! Okay, let's brainstorm!"

Kageyama looked a bit put off at the sudden enthusiasm but after a moment's hesitation, leaned forward and Yachi was pretty sure she saw him let out a tiny grin, either that or he was plotting their murder.

"Happy memories, happy memories..." Inuoka tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Happy memories huh?"

"Inuoka," Yachi said sheepishly, "I don't think you're helping."

"Happy memories are made when you do things that make you happy," Inuoka said slowly and then snapped his fingers and pointed at Kageyama. "So, what makes you happy?"

"What makes me...happy?" Kageyama repeated slowly. 

Yachi looked away as she tried not to giggle at Kageyama's expression. He just looked so confused. 

"Yeah!" Inuoka looked all too proud as he just repeated himself, much to Yachi exasperation. "So you know, what do you do that makes you happy?"

"Quidditch," said Kageyama without hesitation. 

"Good, play lots of Quidditch then," Inuoka grinned. "Problem solved."

"Inuoka, I don't think-" Yachi started.

"So I should play more Quidditch," Kageyama's eyes sparkled and Yachi sighed. 

Should she even bother saying anything?

"Well yeah," Inuoka shrugged, "it's makes you happy."

"But I  _did_ think about Quidditch..." Kageyama muttered and Yachi tilted her head to the side a little. 

What did that mean? She bit her lip. 

"Maybe you need something a little more special?" she suggested, a little hesitantly.

Kageyama glared at her, the look in his eyes very clearly suggesting what could possibly be more important than Quidditch. 

"More unique maybe," Inuoka, thankfully, nodded in agreement.

"Unique?" Kageyama looked disgusted.

"Yeah, you  _do_ play Quidditch all the time. If you wanna make special memories, you should do something different." said Inuoka. 

Yachi wanted to hug him. That was exactly what she'd been thinking, it was obvious that thinking about Quidditch wasn't what Kageyama needed, so they needed to try something different. Inuoka was smarter and deeper than she thought, in fact, she was pretty sure she could leave coming up with an idea up to him. 

"How about hanging out with Raven? I always have a great time with my pet!"

Or not. 

Yachi decided she should intervene before Kageyama stormed off, "or! or you could go somewhere nice! I find going on holidays makes good memories. Of course that'd be difficult now, but you could go to Hogsmeade with your friends maybe..."

She trailed off and looked up at Kageyama, a little embarrassed. He was staring at her, a blank expression on his face. 

"Friends?" he said .

"Y-yeah!" Yachi nodded, glad he at least seemed to be considering the idea and ignoring Inuoka's yell of protest of his own idea being ignored. "Like Hinata and..."

She trailed off again and clamped her mouth shut. She slowly turned her face away from Kageyama. Oh my god, who else was there? There was no one else! There was only Hinata who was able to put up with him! Had she been too obvious? She peaked through strands of her hair but Kageyama didn't look offended, still staring at her. She cleared her throat and turned back around. 

"So you could go to Hogsmeade with Hinata," she tried to sound more convincing. 

Kageyama scowled but didn't say anything. His eyes drifted over Yachi's shoulder to the Gryffindor table where Tanaka was rubbing Hinata's head amidst the loud laughter of Nishinoya and the soft smile of Yamaguchi. Kageyama's head lowered so his fringe covered his eyes and Yachi sighed to herself. Kageyama really was difficult to understand.  

"You could play Quidditch whilst Raven flies besides you," Inuoka suggested and Yachi banged her head on the table.

 

______________________________________________________________

 

"You really don't need to worry about it, I was just teasing," Suga wasn't looking at Daichi, instead concentrating on trying to turn a mug into a butterfly, so he wouldn't have been able to notice the red that bloomed across his face. 

Tendo and Shirofuku, on the other hand,  _had_ been looking at him. Daichi tried not to groan as he saw the two of them simultaneously stand up and start to make their way over to him. Whilst the seat to him was thankfully occupied (by Suga as it were), the one of the other side was unfortunately less so. At least it had been until Shirofuku had slid into it, with Tendo excitedly sitting down next to her.

"Good morning headboy," Tendo grinned over Shirofuku's shoulder at him and Daichi almost groaned out loud. 

"It was," he said under his breath. 

"Did you say something?" Suga asked him and he quickly shook his head. 

"It's nothing."

Suga looked surprised at the sudden appearance of the two other students but smiled at them anyways. 

"Hello there. I don't think we've met," he said. 

Tendo looked absolutely delighted and Daichi was pretty sure the noise he'd just heard was Shirofuku squealing. He let out a large sigh, which went unnoticed as Suga, Tendo and Shirofuku all introduced themselves over the top of him. 

"So, you two seem pretty close," Shirofuku glanced between Suga and Daichi. 

Daichi immediately felt his face turning red and Suga chuckled. 

"Daichi's been very helpful," he said. 

Tendo nodded and tried unsuccessfully to clap Daichi on the shoulder with a cheerful smile, "he is very reliable."

"The only one to be made a captain _and_ head boy," Shirofuku added. 

"Impressive stuff," Tendo nodded.

Daichi wanted the ground to open up and swallow him. Or even better swallow those two. 

"Shouldn't you two practicing?" he asked the two of them and Tendo looked offended. 

"I'm an excellent transfigurer."

Daichi raised an eyebrow, "is that even a word?"

Tendo spluttered, "I said I was good at Transfiguration not vocabulary!"

"Don't you need to know the vocabulary for the spells though?" Suga said thoughtfully and Tendo slumped onto the desk. 

Daichi let out a chuckle and looked at Suga who was worriedly looking at Tendo. 

"Are you okay Tendo?" he asked.

"I've been struck down."

"You're fine," Shirofuku ignored him and looked at Suga. "Say Suga, have you been to Hogsmeade before?"

"Hogsmeade?" Suga looked confused, leaning a little closer, his arm brushing against Daichi's.

She nodded and Daichi tried not to move, his face once again heating up like he was love-struck teenage boy. Which he supposed he kind of was. Not that he was lovestruck in that kind of falling in love way, he was just very impressed by Sugawara. Yes, he admired him a lot. He was good at spells, and he was always so nice and kind to everyone around him, people were just drawn to him the same Tanaka and Noya seemed to be drawn to trouble. And, Daichi could recognise Suga was very good-looking, in a beautiful and elegant way, as if he'd just walked out of a sixteenth century painting. 

"What is it?" Suga asked, seemingly totally unaware of Daichi's bright red face, for which the latter could only be grateful, he didn't exactly trust himself to be able to string together coherent sentences at the moment. 

"Daichi, why don't you explain?" Shirofuku looked at him, one of her eyes' suddenly appearing to have a spasm as she looked right at him. "It's such a great place, I really think you should  _tell_ Suga all about it."

Briefly Daichi wondered whether he should tell Shirofuku there may be something wrong with her. However, that was a rather rude thing to say, and Daichi definitely didn't want her be offended. Even if he did wish Tendo and her would just leave him alone. His face was less red and he cleared his throat before talking. 

"It's an all-wizarding village," Daichi said, proud of himself for not stuttering through any of his explanation, "Students are allowed to visit on Friday afternoons and weekends."

Suga's eyes widened and he looked at Daichi and the latter felt his heart miss a beat. Would it stop that? People looked at him all the time. But those people didn't usually have eyes the colour of gold and silver, of the bark of an ancient tree standing over a forest for a thousand years, of a warm little cabin in the woods where one could spend their time drinking hot chocolate and eating s'mores. Suga had looked at him with eyes wide and completely unguarded, taking in the bright light and reflecting back in sparkling hazel hues, the usual cheerful but composed look on his face had given way to unfiltered curiosity. Suga looked back at Shirofuku and Daichi realized he'd been gaping, his mouth on the verge of falling open as he stared at Suga, vacant expression on his face. He immediately straightened and swallowed, fiddling with his wand and hoping he hadn't been as obvious as he thought he had. 

"A wizarding village?"

"The only one in Britain," Tendo brought himself back into the conversation. 

Suga's eyes once again met with his own.

"Is it close?"

Daichi registered that Suga had asked him a question. A second later, he registered he should probably answer that question. He then became aware he didn't know what that question was, however he was at least aware of just was truly mesmerising Suga's eyes were. They were so beautiful, it was like staring into pools of molten rock. No, not again; he really had to get over that. He jerked his gaze from Suga's face and quickly turned to face the front, inhaling to try explain himself but . At least his face couldn't turn any redder than it already was. He was an idiot, a complete lovestruck idiot. 

"Daichi?" Suga looked at him and he was careful to not look back.

"Um, sorry, sorry I didn't, didn't really quite hear what it was that you just said, just then," what tumbled out of Daichi's mouth was a disjointed mess that would have made Hinata proud.

"You should go," Shirofuku said casually, pointing her wand at the mug and frowning mumbled something under her breath and nudging Daichi.

Daichi turned to her, glad for a distraction, and a valid excuse not to look in Suga's direction. He'd been doing so well too, he'd been pretty sure his initial mesmerised reaction to Suga had been fading, but no, all Suga had to do was look at him with unguarded eyes and he turned into a mess.

He looked at Shirofuku. Nothing had happened to her mug, she probably wanted help. Which was likely the reason why she had moved here to begin with, Daichi had been wondering why the two had suddenly decided to change their seats. Well that made sense, although she could have just asked, it wasn't like she needed to make all that conversation. Not that Daichi had anything against chatting, he didn't like to dwell on the fact that he wasn't the best conversationalist when his heart was beating so fast all his energy went to calming himself down instead of his brain, so the most that came out of his mouth was a stuttering mushy mess of words. 

"You need to move your wand more," Daichi demonstrated, pulling out his wand and waving it an curvy semi-circle. 

Suga turned back to his own cup and stared at it, tapping it with the side of his wand. Shirofuku let out a large sigh and Tendo let his head fall against the table. Daichi looked at the two of them, exasperated. 

"What is it now?"

"Daichi," Shirofuku turned so she was facing him full-on and leant forward, "are you going to ask Suga to go to Hogsmeade or am I going to have to do it for you?"

Daichi's wand slipped from his fingers. He stared at Shirofuku, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open.

"What?" he managed to get out. 

"Yeah, come on," Tendo leaned across Shirofuku's desk so that he could whisper, "let's be honest, it's not like you'll be doing anything interesting anyways."

"I-" Daichi started, his brain still processing what they were saying but Shirofuku interrupted him.

" _You_ are going to ask."

"Yeah or someone else will," Tendo eyed Daichi and then looked over at Suga was still concentrating on the spell, "dunno if you've noticed but your little Slytherin over there is pretty popular."

Shirofuku nodded at him and motioned towards Suga. 

"Go," she mouthed and Daichi suddenly frowned at the two of them. 

"How is this-"

"Any of our business?" Shirofuku hummed.

Tendo and Shirofuku looked at each other and grinned. 

"We've got a bet on," they said at the same time. 

"What?"

"Nothing you need to worry about sir," Shirofuku said with a small wink. 

"Just know you've got our full support," Tendo grinned and gave him two thumbs up. 

"You've got to kidding," Daichi said. 

"Daichi! And the two of you next to him!"

The three of them as well as Suga looked up as Professor Ukai Sr barked out at them and then blinked. 

"No, not you, those two," he waved his hand at Suga before glaring at the rest of them, "stop chatting and do some work."

 "He doesn't even know our names," Tendo muttered, "why's he bothering to boss us around."

Nonetheless, both he and Shirofuku turned back to face their very much intransfigured mugs.

Daichi suddenly caught his eye and Suga quickly looked away, his eyes still glowing with innocent and child-like joy and his cheeks slightly red. It made Daichi's face feel hot. Maybe Shirofuku and Tendo were right and he should ask him to Hogsmeade. He wouldn't think it was weird would he? After all, Daichi did still owe him a date. No! Not a date, he owed him a treat, yes, a treat from Quidditch the other day. He might as well just ask then. 

 

______________________________________________________________

 

Yamaguchi stared at the twig-like creatures that were clambering around on the small tree Professor Mori had brought out and put down in front of the class. They were climbing all over it, some even falling out of the tree and into the plant pot below. Some dangled, some lay, others swung from branch to branch. 

"They're having so much fun!" Hinata jostled Yamaguchi slightly as he moved closer to get a better look. 

Yamaguchi eyed his friend's large smile and clenched fists, "they're not the only ones."

"Woah! What are they?" the tall gangly brother of the Dumstrang champion, Yamaguchi was pretty sure his name was Lev, peered over the top of Hinata's head at the creatures scurrying around. 

"Bowtruckles," Professor Mori answered him and and smiled at the class, "and they're what we'll be studying for the past week."

"Awesome!" Hinata let out a cheer and shuffled even closer so that he was practically standing in the pot, "do we get to hold them?"

"Yes but before-"

"We get to hold them?!" Lev surged forward excitedly, and seeming to have forgotten about the much smaller Hinata below him barrelled right into the other boy. 

"Watch out!" Yamaguchi tried to reach out but he was too late, and Hinata went tumbling forward, legs knocking into the pot and tipping into over as he faceplanted into the dirt. 

"Boys!" Professor Mori said exasperatedly as the bowtruckles began to scuttle erratically across the floor. 

"Owwww," Hinata groaned, lifting his face up from the ground. 

"Are you okay?" Yamaguchi went to give him a hand up and tried not to laugh as Hinata's face came into view.

Half of it was plastered with dirt and the other half was bright red. It looked painful, and it also looked absolutely hilarious. But Yamaguchi was a good friend so he didn't laugh, although he did let a tiny giggle escape him, and he was pretty sure Hinata was too annoyed at Lev to notice. 

"Hey! You giant oaf!"

"I'm sorry! You're so small I didn't see you!"

"I'm not short! You're just freaking huge!" Hinata yelled and glared at Lev. "That hurt!"

"I said I was sorry," Lev looked put off, "it's not completely my fault though."

"What?! How-"

"Well, you were kind of in the way!" Lev retorted and pointed at Hinata. "And you were the one who knocked over all the hoshuckles!"

"They're called bowtruckles-" Yamaguchi tried to intervene but Hinata yelled over him. 

"I only knocked it over because you pushed me!"

"Boys." Professor Mori clapped his hands. "That's enough. You did want to hold them didn't you? This is a perfect opportunity. You three can stay here and clean this up whilst the rest of the class takes notes on the places you're most likely to find a bowtruckle."

Professor Mori led the rest of the snickering class away and Yamaguchi watched them leave, aghast. 

"Why me?" he said, more to himself as no one ever seemed to want to listen to him anyways. 

"You're stupid."

"You're stupid."

"You're too tall."

"You're just too short."

"You're both stupid," Yamaguchi snapped at them without thinking.

Silence. He could feel both pairs of eyes on him. Why had he just done that? Well, he'd been annoyed that not only was he stuck cleaning up a mess he had nothing to do with making, he was stuck with the two complete morons that had made it. He turned to look at them, plastering a smile on his face. 

"You okay Yama? You kinda look ill," Hinata stared at him and Yamaguchi dropped the smile. 

"Let's just get it over with."

"Yeah, Lev! Hurry up!" Hinata glared at the other who straightened. 

He towered over Hinata by over a head and the boy noticeable swallowed. 

"I mean, let's do it?"

"I'd have thought you two would get along great," Yamaguchi knelt down next to the broken pot and pulled out his wand. 

He didn't bother asking either of the two if they wanted to try and fix it. Knowing Hinata's penchant for spells backfiring and Lev's reputation for not even being capable of the simplest charms, the best, or even just the safest thing to do would just be to fix it himself. Hinata squatted down next to him, a little confused frown on his face. 

"Whaddya mean?"

"Well you know," Yamaguchi pulled out his wand and pointed it at the ceramic shards. 

"Reparo," he said and the pieces slowly flew back together, melding back into shape, the cracks eventually disappearing as the spell did its job. "You're pretty alike. With the whole Quidditch thing."

"You like Quidditch?" the two boys said at the same time, Lev also having squatted down and was now shovelling dirt back into the pot. 

Yamaguchi stared at the two of them, "you're on the _same_ _team_."

"You're on the Quidditch team?!" their voices rose even louder and Yamaguchi felt the overwhelming urge to throw the pot at one of their heads.

But he would have to decide which head, and he'd only just fix it. And besides it seemed the damage had already been done, nothing could fix the idiocracy of either of them. They were truly and utterly beyond saving. Yamaguchi stood up and brushed the dirt off his robes with a sigh. Hinata and Lev had both undergone a complete 180 and now were chatting excitedly about quaffles and beaters, shoving dirt back into the pot as they did. Yamaguchi went to open his mouth and then paused. 

Should he tell them he could just charm the earth and bowtruckles back into the pot?

"Ow!" Hinata suddenly yelled out and jumped up, shaking his hand. 

Lev started to laugh and Hinata indignantly shook his hand in Yamaguchi's face. There was a little bowtruckle biting on to his index finger, and hanging on for dear life as none of Hinata's dancing around could dislodge it. Finally Hinata managed to pull it off and he threw into the pot, Lev having just replanted the tree, it quickly scrambled up the branches, disappearing into the bark. 

"It bit me!" Hinata knelt down closer and glared at the tree. "I can't believe it bit me. Why didn't it bite you two? You guys look much more like trees than me."

"Thank you," Lev looked genuinely touched. 

Yamaguchi was going to leave them to it. He'd done his bit, he'd fixed the pot. They could do the rest by themselves. Twenty-five minutes later, they'd finally collected all of the bowtruckles, at least all the ones they could see, and returned them to their leafy home. After five minutes of watching Hinata and Lev crawling around on the ground, cooing and whistling, Yamaguchi had given and joined in. They were just too hopeless.

"We did it!"

"I can't believe those things bite though!" Lev looked at his hands that were covered in tiny little red marks. 

"Yeah," Hinata's hands looked the same. "And they look so cute too."

"They look like branches," Yamaguchi said, deadpanned. 

"Yeah but they're still cute!" Hinata grinned at him. "With their little arms and their little legs."

"And their little teeth," lamented Lev.

"At least they're not poisonous," Hinata said and then quickly looked at Yamaguchi, "right?"

He would be lying if he didn't consider answering yes, but he wasn't Tsukki, so he shook his head with a rueful smile. 

"No, they're not poisonous."

"Oh thank god."

"We should probably bring this back to the professor right," Hinata looked down at the pot, once again full of bowtruckles dancing around. 

Yamaguchi nodded but neither of them moved. They were both aware that if they (somehow) managed to pick up the pot, the small tree inside of it would totally tower over them, in Hinata's case so much so that both tree and boy would probably just topple over. Simultaneously they both turned to look at Lev.

"What?" he said. 

Yamaguchi pointedly turned back to look at the tree. 

"Ugh, fine, I'll carry it," Lev picked up the pot and hoisted up to his chest. 

The three made their way down towards the Care of Magical Creatures classroom, also known the shed, and to the cheers of the rest of the class when they finally got there, gave the tree back to Professor Mori. He smiled cheerfully as he put it inside the shed. 

"Thanks guys. You can do your notes now, but if you don't finish you'll have to do it as homework. And no more fighting okay?" he wagged his finger at Hinata and Lev who nodded sheepishly. 

"Man," Lev stretched as they made their way out the cabin, "that was so not how I thought that would go."

What Yamaguchi liked about Care of Magical Creatures was how relaxed it was. During theory lessons, they were basically allowed to go wherever they wanted, unless Professor Mori wanted to give them a lecture, but otherwise they were merely expected to do their own research on what Professor Mori asked of them and then study it on their own time. Yamaguchi knew most of the other students preferred the much more exciting practical lessons, where they got to feed unicorns or play with hippogriffs, but he really liked just being able to do his own thing outdoors and learn in the fresh air. 

Hinata ran over to a patch of sunny grass and threw himself down, "Aaaah so nice! I love nature!"

Yamaguchi pulled his robe tighter around him and smiled. He sat down next to Hinata, followed by Lev who stared out across at the Hogwarts grounds. Yamaguchi followed his gaze. It was really was a beautiful place. The lake wasn't frozen yet, ripples made by either grindylows, mermaids, the giant squid or even just fish playing around in the water could still be seen on its green surface. 

"It's really nice here," Lev said, resting his chin on his knees. 

"It's beautiful," Yamaguchi agreed. 

"Yeah."

The three of them stared at the grounds for a bit longer before Hinata clapped his hands. 

"Right! I don't want homework!"

"Good point," Lev quickly straightened, pulled out a notebook and then paused, "what were we supposed to be doing?"

"Ummm, that is, well, it was..." Hinata brow crinkled and Yamaguchi, once again took pity on the two. 

"Where you would find a bowtruckle," he pulled out his own notebook, "it shouldn't take too long."

"Right! Yes, I remember now," Hinata cheered, "let's do it!"

Yamaguchi shook his head ruefully, who would believe he was younger than the little ginger boy? He hummed to himself as he began to write down what he remembered from the textbook he'd read last week. He was always reading ahead, so stuff that was just remembering was easy for him. The same could not be said for his two companions, who were shifting through their own textbooks with loud mutters and groans. 

"I never covered any of this with Yaku," muttered Lev, as he turned another page. 

"Yaku Morisuke?" Yamaguchi was surprised Lev even knew the older boy, they were in completely different circles after all.

Lev didn't look up but nodded, "yeah, he's my tutor."

"Yaku agreed to be your tutor?" Hinata's volume shot up. 

"Yeah," Lev was obviously not completely paying attention, eyes tracing down the paragraph in his textbook, "aha! here we go..."

He quickly scribbled something down as Hinata muttered. 

"Can't believe Yaku agreed to tutor someone after Kageyama, it almost killed him."

"He did seem a little highly strung," Yamaguchi remembered Yaku's face always seeming to be pinched in his fourth year. 

He stared at Lev, the latter seemed like he'd be even more difficult to tutor than Kageyama. Which was saying a lot. But Yaku wasn't called the demon senior for no reason, he could whip a bunch of sloths into good enough shape to play in the Quidditch nationals if he had to. His Quidditch training regimen for newbies was legendary, with a 98% drop-out rate. Yamaguchi didn't even know Yaku that well, but he knew if there was anyone that could teach Lev magic, it was that guy. 

"He's really good," Lev finally looked and his dark green eyes met right with Yamaguchi's.

Yamaguchi felt a shock run through out his entire body, he was light, he felt so light he could float away right now. Images began to flash through his head. There was an island, and now everything was white and polished and there were shapes moving around it, he couldn't make anything out. Now something else, kids everywhere, his age, a bit older and a bit younger too, running, milling around in all sorts of coloured but uniform robes. Now back to the island, and he could make out the white building now, it was like a palace and those things flying around it, were those horses? Another image, a full moon and something, a wolf, was howling, it sounded close, like it was right behind him, like it was going to-

"Yamaguchi! Yamaguchi!" 

The images all faded and everyting black. He opened his eyes. Still nothing. His breathing began to shorten, he couldn't see, he couldn't see. He closed his eyes and opened them again, still nothing. He really couldn't see. His body felt stiff and his limbs ached like he'd been on a particularly bumpy road trip, but that was nothing compared to his head. He had a headache that felt like his brain was trying expand out of his skull, pushing at the sides of it and trying to split it in half. It hurt too much to move, he couldn't even tell where his limbs were, everything hurt too much. 

"Yamaguchi!" 

That voice, Hinata maybe? It was getting closer. He squeezed his eyes even tighter, what was going on? Suddenly something was flung from his head and Yamaguchi's eyes flew open as he let out a gasp as a spike of pain went through his arm. 

"Oh my god! I'm sorry! I thought you were dead!" Hinata's face was a little blurry, but he could see it, he could see his orange hair and his large eyes and his crease between his eyebrows. "Are you okay? Do you know who I am? Can you talk? How many fingers am I holding up?"

Hinata shoved his hand into Yamaguchi's face and with groan the latter managed to sit up. The reason, as it turned out, he hadn't been able to see, was because his arm had been thrown over his face and obscuring his vision. But he'd been in too much pain to tell what was what and hadn't even realised. The pain was subsiding now, although his body still felt like it'd been thrown in the tumble dryer, at least now his migraine was just a dull ache in the back of his skull. 

"What happened?" he said, looking around. 

The lake was a lot closer than it was five minutes ago. In fact, Hinata and him were pretty much at its edge. He looked up, had he just fallen from up there? It wasn't a particularly steep fall, but it was a long one, which would explain why his body felt the way it did. 

"You started to like convulse, we didn't know what to do, and then you fainted and you started to roll down the hill and I had to run after you! I thought for sure you were gonna end up in the lake but I caught up with you and stopped you!" Hinata said smiling proudly at Yamaguchi. 

"I-" Yamaguchi winced slightly as he tried to get up. 

"Here," Hinata helped him and when he was finally standing, the smaller boy suddenly wrapped his arms around him and gave him a hug. 

"Hinata?" Yamaguchi was surprised, his friend was affectionate but he didn't really tend to be affectionate with him.

Yamaguchi wasn't really a fan of physical stuff. 

"I'm glad you're okay," Hinata pulled back and smiled sheepishly at him, "I was kinda scared."

Yamaguchi stared at him. He swallowed. He had no idea what was happening to him, he had no idea why he'd suddenly had these visions or whatever they were or why he'd had a fit and thrown himself off a (albeit small) cliff. He should be feeling confused, scared and tired. And he did feel all of those, there was no doubt that he did. But more than that, he felt inexplicably happy. He felt, well he supposed it was less than what he did feel and more of what he didn't feel. 

He didn't feel alone. 

 

______________________________________________________________

 

Akaashi listened as Professor Onikobe explained to them the dangers of Apparition. This was their first lesson in which they would actually be apparating, or at least trying to. Akaashi didn't doubt it would take most of them quite a while to learn how to apparate properly. Nonetheless, he was a little excited. Learning spells was great and all, but it was always fun to learn completely new magic. The class was excitedly chatting away, Semi and Bokuto next to him also talking loudly about all the places they were going to apparate to. Professor Onikobe seemed to realise there was really no point in trying to get them to listen, they'd been studying Apparition for weeks now, and everyone was too excited about actually doing it to talk about it anymore.

"Okay everyone, just remember the threee Ds: destination, determination and deliberation. You must be determined to reach your destination, and move without haste, but with deliberation."

"This is so cool! I can't wait to be able to do it," Bokuto cheered and Akaashi smiled back at him. 

"Yeah, it'll be good."

"Apparition would probably be pretty useful in the Tournament," suddenly said Semi. 

Akaashi blinked, a little surprised at the random statement and then shrugged. 

"It definitely wouldn't hurt," he said. 

"The Tournament isn't all about being good at magic!" Bokuto said. "Other things would be a lot more important!"

Semi scowled at him, "yeah obviously, your wand-"

"No!" Bokuto cut him off and clenched his first dramatically, "more important than being good at magic! You have to have courage! Determination! Intelligence!"

Each word was accentuated by a different pose and not for the first time Akaashi was very grateful Bokuto had not been chosen for the Tournament. He would, without a doubt, have been knocked out in the first thirty seconds, and by his own hand probably. 

"Ushijima'll be fine then," Semi grinned confidently. "He's basically the perfect champion."

"I think Kenma will do well," Akaashi said quietly, looking back up to the front where Professor Onikobe was talking to the headmaster, presumably to make sure the Hogwarts anti-Apparition charm had been turned off. 

Semi frowned, "Kenma? You mean the Beauxbatons kid?"

Akaashi nodded, a little annoyed at Semi's derisive tone, "he _is_ a Ravenclaw."

"Yeah..." Semi didn't look convinced.

"Well Alisa's pretty good too," Bokuto puffed his chest out, "she's totally gonna smash it."

Akaashi rolled his eyes but didn't want to dampen Bokuto's enthusiasm so didn't say anything. 

"Okay everyone!" Professor Mori called out to the class. "To begin with you'll get into pairs, and both of you will concentrate on going to the same place. For today, I want you all to concentrate on the courtyard alright? So think about your destination, the courtyard, and hold hands, that way in case anything goes wrong and you get splinched, which I'm sure won't happen, you have someone who can get help."

Akaashi didn't even have time to think about who he would partner up with before Bokuto wrapped his arms around him and yelled into his ear. 

"Akaashi be my partner!"

He winced and not too gently shook the older boy off. 

"Don't scream in my ear," he reprimanded him and Bokuto wilted. 

"Oh. Sorry."

Akaashi rubbed his ear as Bokuto scuffled his feet next to him. He wouldn't stop fiddling with his robes and Akaashi finally turned to him and gave him a quick nod. 

"And yeah, I'll be your partner."

Immediately Bokuto perked up again and he let out a loud cheer. 

"Yes!"

"It's a good thing they combine six and seventh years for apparition huh?" Semi winked at him, a boy with a seriously questionable hair cut and just as serious sour look on his face having walked up next to him.

"It is?" 

Akaashi wasn't really paying attention, too busy keeping an eye on Bokuto, who was excitedly running around informing everyone Akaashi and him were partners. Akaashi couldn't help feel exasperated but also a little flattered - mostly the former however. 

"Well, yeah. Everyone'd be too scared to go with that idiot otherwise," Semi said, pointing at Bokuto. 

Akaashi wanted to defend his friend, but there was no defence from the cold harsh truth of reality. Everyone in Hogwarts knew partnering with Bokuto was a risk, an extremely large, explosive and probably messy risk. Ever since his fourth year where he'd managed to transfigure his partner into a plastic plant, partnering with Bokuto had generally been avoided by most of the student body. To this day, only Akaashi and Kuroo were willing to partner up with him. Not that partnering with the latter helped his reputation at all. 

Bokuto ran back over to Akaashi and Semi walked away as everyone got into their places. 

"Alright everyone. Whenever you're ready. Just concentrate on the courtyard. Remember you _must_ be touching your partner and you must both think of the same place," Professor Mori called out instructions. 

Bokuto held out his hand to Akaashi with a grin, "let's do it partner."

Akaashi took Bokuto's hand and let out a breath. 

"Think of the courtyard," he said to Bokuto who looked at him. 

"I know, I know."

Bokuto closed his eyes and started to frown in concentration and after a few seconds hesitation Akaashi did the same. He concentrated as hard as he could on the courtyard outside the Astronomy Tower. Think of the courtyard. Think of the-

"Aaaah! Nothing happened!" Bokuto yelled and Akaashi's eyes snapped open. 

"We've only been trying for a few seconds," he said and Bokuto pouted, dropping his hand. 

Akaashi looked around, it didn't look like anyone had succeeded in even leaving the Great Hall. 

"Isn't it supposed to be super fast though?"

"Nothing happens instantaneously," Professor Mori walked by them and patted Bokuto on the arm, "just keep trying. Remember to concentrate. Go on, try again."

"But this is boring..." Bokuto whinges and Akaashi looks at him disapprovingly.

"Stop complaining," he said and this time he held out his hand.

"Yeah," Semi laughed from besides them, "where's all your enthusiasm?"

"Gone..." Bokuto lamented but took Akaashi's hand nonetheless.

"Just like your partner," Akaashi added casually as he watched Semi's friend walking off and disinterestedly start talking to Kiyoko. 

"Hey Shirabu!" Semi scowled and ran over. "You're supposed to be my partner!"

"Let's think of the courtyard."

"But it's not working Akaaashi," Bokuto let out a large sigh. "This Apparition stuff is hard."

"So was Quidditch at first. But you still became one of the best."

 Bokuto's face turned red and a huge smile spread across his face, "you think I'm the best?"

Akaashi wondered whether answering 'yes' would encourage Bokuto to actually concentrate on trying to apparate or get him so excited that he wouldn't be able to settle down for the rest of the lesson. 

"You're very good," he said.

"I'm the best," said Bokuto and then looked at Akaashi, "tell me again! Say I'm the best."

"No thanks," Akaashi could at least be grateful he hadn't said yes.

"Akaaaashi...say it! Please? Say it? Please? Pretty please?"

"If we apparate, then maybe."

"Okay! Okay we have to apparate!" Bokuto grinned widely as he gripped Akaashi hands and closed his eyes. 

Alright, concentrate. The courtyard. The paved corridors that run alongside it, the grass growing through the cracks, the sound of the massive clock slowly ticking above, imagine you're there. 

"You know when I finally get it I'm gonna appear at your house all the time!"

There was a large crack and Akaashi very quickly realised why so many wizards preferred to use a portkey or floo powder to travel. Everything had gone black, he was spinning and there was a ringing in his ears, he had trouble breathing. It felt like his body was getting run over by a roller. His eyeballs felt like they were going to burst from his sockets and his eardrums were shrinking back into his skull. Finally there was relief and Akaashi let out a breath. He straightened, clamping his mouth shut - he was not going to throw up. He finally managed to open his eyelids, his vision spinning for a few seconds before he could make sense of anything. He was not in the courtyard, and Bokuto was not with him. 

"Bokuto!" he called out, trying not panic. 

He looked around, he was on the garden of a large house, with a large imposing gate blocking the way out and-

Akaashi double over and violently threw up. In front of him was a massive mansion, its dark bricks blending into the darkness that seemed to surround it despite the broad daylight. An iron-wrought fence encircled the manor, even though Akaashi knew there was no one who would dare come anywhere near this place. Something glinted in one of the many diamond-paned windows and Akaashi finally managed to get his legs to move as he ran. 

He ran towards the mansion, just to the right of the black marble porch where he knew anyone looking out the windows wouldn't be able to see him. He let out a shaky breath as he leant against the cold brick, the ivy creeping up the sides scratching his face. Why had he ended up here? He'd been thinking of the courtyard, he'd been concentrating on nothing but. His eyes widened. No he hadn't. 

"Stupid, stupid Bokuto," Akaashi pressed his palm to his forehead and felt sick again. "Stupid, stupid, stupid."

All he really wanted to was curl up here and cry. He had never wanted to come back here, and he'd done everything to avoid having anything to do with this place. He'd been doing so well, he hadn't even thought of it for months. But of course, the first time he thought of it just had to be during Apparition. How typical was that? But, if he'd apparated...did that mean Bokuto had too? Then Bokuto was here. Akaashi felt the panic that had been stewing at the bottom of his stomach begin to bubble over, no, this could not be happening. This was a nightmare. If anyone saw Bokuto, what would they do? He had to find him before anyone saw him. He had to. 

"Bo-"

"Akaaaaashiiiiii!" there was a long howl that Akaashi would able to recognise anywhere. 

He immediately started to run towards where it was coming from - the back of the mansion. 

"Bokuto!" he called out, too scared to worry that someone might hear him. "Boktuo!"

"Akaaashiiii help meeee!"

"Where are you?" Akaashi ran to the back of the manor and then stopped dead in his tracks. 

The garden was nothing like he remembered it. It had always been beautiful to him, like so many forbidden things were to a child. Places that you weren't allowed to go where always more enticing than those you were. It had been covered in beautiful green grass that always smelt like it had been freshly cut, hedges trimmed into all sorts of different shapes, there had been always been at least five birds happily chirping and filling it with noise. There'd been trees, trees he'd been able to climb up and look out of, look out and feel like the entire world was at his fingertips. This garden had made the walls around it disappear, made the iron fence seem so very far away, made Akaashi feel free even when he was trapped. 

But not anymore. Now it was just like the rest of this place. The grass was no longer green, it was grey and smelt like rot, it crunched under his feet and crackled whenever there was so much as a breeze. The hedges had long outgrown their shapes of birds, cats and horses; now they were just brambles and leaves. Most of the trees were merely stumps, and the only birds here was the crows pecking at the wall and the corpse of a tiny little blue bird, caught in the thorns of one of the bushes. Akaashi looked away, a sour taste in his mouth and pressure building behind his eyes. Really, what had he expected? That the only place he'd loved as a child staying the same? He'd been naive.

"Akaaashi!" 

He remembered why he'd come here and the fear came back tenfolds. Where was he?

"Bokuto! Where-"

"Here! Here! I'm here!"

Akaashi ran deeper into the garden and caught sight of a flash of yellow out of the corner of his eye. He turned and his mouth fell open. Bokuto was hanging from the only remaining tree, an once vibrant oak tree, now with most of its branches bare, its bark rotting with few lonely yellow and brown leaves clinging desperately to the higher branches. His robe had been caught on one of the large branches and he was struggling to get free, his arms waving around to no avail. He looked down and immediately let out a yell of relief when he saw Akaashi. 

"Akaashi!! You found me!"

"Shush!" Akaashi called out, now he'd found Bokuto, the fear of something having happened to him had been replaced with the fear of being found. 

"What?" Bokuto yelled out and Akaashi wanted to slap him. "Akaashi I can't hear you!"

"Shut up!" he yelled back and the Hufflepuff looked shocked. 

Akaashi didn't have time to explain this to him. 

"Don't move," he said.

"But-" Bokuto started. 

"Just don't," Akaashi cut him off and ran a hand through his hair. 

There was only one way they could get out of here. They would have to disapparate. He didn't have any confidence in either Bokuto or his own ability to find their way back to Hogwarts, but it was the only chance they had. He swallowed and started to climb the tree. 

"Akaashi," Bokuto whispered, evidently getting a little scared now, "what are you doing?"

Akaashi didn't answer as he deftly manoeuvred his way to the branch where Bokuto was hanging. He'd climbed this tree hundreds of times, but the nostalgia of doing it again was shadowed by the stress of being back in this place. He inched his way closer to Bokuto and then held out his hand to him. 

"Give me your hand," he said. 

"Huh?"

"Hurry up!" he hissed and Bokuto quickly reached up to Akaashi's outstretched hand with a wince. 

Akaashi noticed how pale his friend looked, and there was red along his shirt. When Bokuto took his hand, it felt warm and sticky. 

"Are you okay?" he grasped his hand tighly and looked down at him. 

Bokuto looked confused but nodded slowly, "Akaashi what's going on? Where are we?"

"Let's just go back," Akaashi suddenly felt exhausted, and he felt hopeless. 

How were they going to manage this? They were even less than amateurs when it came to Apparition. Wouldn't it just be easier to give up? He would have to stay here, but Bokuto could leave. Who knew what would happen if they tried to apparate and failed? They could splinch, or end up in the middle of a desert. Well, they'd already ended up somewhere much worse. Akaashi renewed his resolve and gripped Bokuto's hand. 

"Think of Hogwarts," he said. 

"What-"

"Please," he voice cracked, he just wanted to get out of here.

Bokuto looked up at him, his eyes staring right at back Akaashi, a glint of something Akaashi had never seen there before, and he nodded. 

"Okay," he said. 

"Okay," Akaashi repeated after him. 

_Think of Hogwarts. Think of Hogwarts. Think of Hogwarts._

"Keiji? Keiji is that you?! Keiji! You've come home! Keiji-"

No. No. Hogwarts. Towers, classrooms, stairs that move when you least expect it, portraits that wave at you when you–

There was a deafening crack and a roar in Akaashi's ears. Tears were forced out of his eyeballs and wind ripped around as he torn, pushed and pulled from all directions. He smacked into something hard and let out a loud groan, tears still streaming down his face. 

"Fucking hell!"

"Oh my god!"

"What happened?"

"Is that Bokuto?!"

"Are they okay?"

Everything was bouncing around in his head. It was all too much, it was like there was someone hammering in head whilst yelling right into his ears. He needed quiet, he just wanted it to stop. He felt his consciousness fading and the last thing he felt was something slipping from his fingers. 

 

______________________________________________________________

 

Kenma was sitting on one of the window sills in the Hogwarts Turris Magnus, the largest of the castle's towers. He could see people milling around below him, louds cracks and shouts of happiness when someone apparated successfully, or pain if they got splinched in the process. He'd finally got round to actually thinking about the Tournament, the wand weighing ceremony finally driving home for him that he was a part of it. And if he didn't start to accept it, he was going to end completely humiliated or worse killed. With all the reading he'd done about the Tournament, he couldn't comprehend why they thought it was a good idea to bring it back. People had  _died_. People who were his age. Were they not just kids? What would possess someone to want to bring back something that had resulted in the deaths of children?

He'd read something about improving relationships with fellow schools, and that the tasks had been severely revised. But it still wasn't very comforting. He looked down again, most of the students had left the courtyard now. Presumably going off to their next class. Kenma wasn't one to skip, but he had a lot to think about. He didn't need to add Transfiguration spells to the mix. He just needed a day or two to set everything in his brain straight. He still hadn't even told his mother he'd been selected as a champion. She'd only worry, so he'd rather she didn't know. 

He let out a sigh and absentmindedly scratched at the grit that was forming around the window pane. He'd taken to sitting in this particular tower, mainly due to the fact that people rarely came to the higher floors. The Ravenclaw Tower was often too busy, and the Astronomy Tower had way too many stairs. It was a large and spacious place, with huge windows and low window sills. Perfect to sit and stare out of. Which was precisely what Kenma would do.

A tapping on the window brought him out of his thoughts. He looked out the window and the unexpected eye-level owl that was pecking at the window made him jump. He stared at it blankly for a few seconds, spotting the small piece of paper that was tied around its leg, and its pecking got more aggressive. Slowly Kenma slipped off the window sill and reached out to open it. There was a gust of cold air and the owl didn't hesitate to fly in, landing on the large sill and immediately going to pull at the string around its foot. There was another gust and the window handle was wrenched from Kenma's hand as it slammed shut. The owl let out a squawk and flapped its wings. Kenma recognised it as a barred owl, with light brown feathers striped along its chest and speckling its head.

"Here," Kenma slowly went to help it, carefully undoing the knot and pulling, what he now realised was a letter, free. 

He offered it back to the owl, presuming it had just wanted a rest and was now going to deliver it. The owl merely stared at him and hooted slowly. Kenma pushed the letter towards its beak but the owl snapped at him, flapping its wings aggressively and moving over the side of the sill. Kenma was a little annoyed, he'd helped him hadn't he? He looked down at the letter and frowned. He looked closer. 

_To ~~my be~~  Kozume Kenma_

Well that couldn't be right. He brought even closer. No, that was his name. He looked at the owl again. He didn't recognise it, he knew all of his family's owls, and all of them were tiny. Not that this owl was huge, but it was definitely bigger than most. He turned the letter over in his hands and hesitated. Should he open it? It was addressed to him. It was probably someone just saying he didn't deserve to be part of the Tournament. He'd had a few of them slipped into his desk over the past week. He slumped back down onto the sill, and tore the envelope open. He pulled out a piece of paper and unfolded it. There was something sprawled across the middle of the paper in messy unfamiliar handwriting. Kenma squinted at it.

_Good luck in the first task!! I'll be cheering for you!!!! xxxx_

"What the hell?" Kenma muttered and turned it around, looking for a signature. 

There was nothing. He frowned and looked at the owl. 

"I've never seen you before," he said, and after a second's hesitation he held out a hand to it. 

The owl jumped up and gracefully landed on his fingers, its claws curling delicately around them to maintain its balance. It was surprisingly light, so Kenma guessed a lot of its size came from its feathers. Kenma gave the letter another quick read, and he shoved it into his robes' pockets. He stroked the owl's head for a few moments and then looked at it. 

"Thanks I guess," he said a little ruefully, "at least one person thinks I can do it."

The owl hooted and shifted its weight. Kenma looked at it and it stared back at him. 

"Who do you belong to?" he muttered and after few moments of stroking its head he let out a sigh. 

"You should probably get back."

He get off the window sill to once again open the window and held out his arm. He would a be a little sad to see the owl go, but the letter had strangely given him some peace of mind. At least not everyone was cheering for his public humiliation. The owl gave one last hoot, before spreading its wings and soaring out of the window. Kenma watched it fly across the grounds until it had disappeared into more than a small speck in the sky. He wondered who could possibly have sent it. Excluding Shouyou and Akaashi, he didn't really talk to anyone. There was Fukunaga, but that really didn't suit him. It reminded him of Shouyou, but the latter was more the sort to just yell things to his face. The thought of having something like a 'secret admirer' might fill some people with joy but all it did to Kenma was make him feel anxious. He hated the thought of someone watching him. 

"Hey Kenma!"

He looked up and Hinata bounded over to him cheerfully, "thought you might be here!"

"Hello Shouyou," he said and pushed the window shut and the thoughts of the letter out his mind. 

"Whatcha doing?" Hinata leaned over him to stare out the window before turning to look at him curiously. 

Kenma shrugged, "nothing really."

Hinata grinned and grabbed his hand, "let's go then!"

"What-?" 

Kenma was pulled from his comfortable spot on the window as Hinata dragged him down the stairs and to the outside, only dropping his hand when he was sure Kenma wasn't going to try and sneak back up the tower. Kenma let out a breath as Hinata rummaged around in his robes. God he hated running. Although if the upcoming task was anything like the previous ones he was going to gave to get used to it. Kenma blanked. He hadn't thought of the fitness aspect. He'd only been concentrating on the magic part of it. Oh god, what if they actually made him run? 

"What's wrong with your face?" Hinata poked him. 

"Nothing," Kenma batted his hand with a sigh, "just tired."

Hinata bit his lip and looked at him. Kenma could tell he was excited about something, he wouldn't stop twitching and rocking on the balls of his feet. 

"You know the first task is next week right?"

He didn't need to remind him. Kenma was only too aware of the deadline, creeping closer and closer with each passing day. 

"Yeah," he said, shuffling his feet, "I know..."

"I got you something!" Hinata quickly shoved a badly wrapped package into his hands. 

The paper that he'd used to wrap it was torn in multiple places, with sticky tape almost entirely covering the thing. Kenma would have laughed but he was too surprised that Hinata had done this for him to even move. The present lay in his hands as he just stared down at it.

"Are you gonna open it?" Hinata said impatiently. 

"Y-yeah," Kenma slowly traced the paper and began to pick at the tape.

"Kenmaaaaa, come on," Hinata whinged and Kenma pulled a little harder, tearing the tape and the paper with it. 

His eyes widened when he saw what was underneath. Hinata leaned forward excitedly.

"You said you liked playing games right? This is just a muggle thing but I thought you might find it cool! You can play tons of games on it!

It was what Kenma knew was a portable gaming console. When he was little he'd always wanted one for himself, but his mother had never liked muggle inventions. One of the reasons he'd made friends with Kuroo in the first place was because he'd had one he'd always let him play. 

"I-" it was a little hard to talk and Hinata looked at him eagerly. 

"You like it?"

"I-" Kenma swallowed and finally looked at him, pulling it to his chest, "thank you."

Hinata grinned at him happily, "you're welcome! And you're totally gonna do great tomorrow! Whatever it is you'll make it go gwah! Make everything go flying like bwah! And I got you some games too! I didn't really know which ones to get so I just asked some of my friends back home what was popular..."

Kenma smiled a little as his hands went to the pocket of his robes. 

Two people. 

Two people who believed he could do it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is so late and i'm really sorry but i don't have a schedule because uni and its a mess BUT i'm starting to get organised so HOPEFULLY never this late again :'(


	9. The 1st Task

"Wow."

"Is that him?"

"He's so handsome..."

"What's all the noise for?" Oikawa had made himself was comfortable at the Gryffindor table was staring around at the chattering girls. "It's not me is it?"

"Of course not dumbass."

Iwaizumi pointed to the teachers table where a handsome man with long blonde hair was talking with the headmaster and Oikawa squinted. 

"Who's that?"

"The fourth judge," said Nishinoya, just arriving and sitting down before glaring at Oikawa. "Why's he at our table?

Oikawa smiled winningly back, "I thought it looked a little desolate over here."

"Asshole," Nishinoya said but there was no real animosity in his tone. 

"So that's him?" Oikawa pursed him lips, looking back to the front of the Hall.

Iwaizumi looked at him. There was a small frown, almost indiscernible, on Oikawa's face.

"What?" he asked and the Slytherin shook his head. 

"Nothing. Just thought he looked familiar."

"You don't recognise him?" Daichi said and Iwaizumi looked at the man again. 

He was definitely someone most people would remember if they'd seen him before. Everything about him was poised and sharp, his nose, his cheekbones, his dark pinstripe suit. Long, straight blonde hair that fell past his shoulders, with the front strands pinned back from his face only enhanced his expensive appearance. 

"He does look like he might have escaped the set of the Hobbit," Nishinoya laughed and when no one joined in, he shook his head, "muggle joke."

"I'm half muggle," said Daichi blankly. 

"Unfunny joke," countered Misaki and bumped Nishinoya's shoulder playfully.

"Anyways," Daichi looked over at Oikawa, "you've probably seen him in the Daily Prophet-"

Oikawa interrupted with a frown of disdain, "I don't read that."

"Right," Daichi said with a ' _why am I not surprised?_ ' look on his face.

"You can barely read period," Iwaizumi said and Oikawa looked at him mock-shocked. 

"Iwa-chan! You'll really hurt my feelings one day."

"Doubt it. Your skin is almost as thick as your skull."

"Iwa-chan!" Oikawa whinged.

Iwaizumi ignored him and looked at Daichi. 

"Is he famous or something?"

Daichi nodded, "he's part of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

"A lot of people know him because of those werewolf laws though," Misaki said thoughtfully and Iwaizumi frowned. 

"Werewolf laws?"

"Yeah," she nodded, "he revoked all that garbage about them being half breeds, and he even set up a shop in Diagon Alley where you can get Wolfsbane potion for like, half the price."

"Regular little do-gooder isn't he?"

Iwaizumi hit Oikawa over the side of his head.The latter muttered and went back to eating his breakfast, still occasionally staring up at the fourth judge. Iwaizumi piled some more toast on his plate and began to eat. Everyone was very excited today it seemed. Although he could understand why. The fourth judge had  _finally_ arrived, but more importantly, today was the day of the first task. Iwaizumi wasn't particularly bothered, no one he really knew was competing, but he was still interested to see how it would go. Oikawa, he knew, was heavily invested in watching, most likely for some very immoral reason that involved Ushijima getting thrown around or burnt to a crisp. 

"More importantly, Iwa-chan," Oikawa poked his arm. 

"Uh huh," Iwaizumi answered without looking at him.

"Did I tell you about my dream?"

"No," Iwaizumi picked another up another piece of toast as everyone around him groaned.  

"Here we go again," muttered Nishinoya as Oikawa cleared his throat. 

"It was really weird Iwa-chan, even compared to my other ones because I wasn't in it!"

"Was it a good dream?" Iwaizumi asked casually and Oikawa stared at him suspiciously but continued anyways. 

"No! It was a terrible dream! There was a huge massive snake-"

"Was that you?" Noya interrupted cackling and Oikawa smiled cordially at him. 

"Did I not just say I wasn't in this dream? Actually, that's not true. I was watching over it. As if I was some sort of omnipresent God."

There was silence for a few moments as everyone stared at Oikawa who daintily took a sip of his orange juice. Iwaizumi himself was only half-paying attention. Every other day Oikawa had a new dream to talk about, Iwaizumi pinned it on his overactive imagination, because most of the time they were seriously weird. 

"As I was saying," he continued, "a terrifying snake was there. And it was huge! Just curling around in the sky..."

Oikawa continued in his vivid description of the reptile, everyone knowing better than to question him, unless they wanted to to add another twenty minutes of Oikawa talking to their already long enough day. Iwaizumi, and anyone who had questions, had learnt that the very hard way. Iwaizumi looked up at the teachers' table again. The fourth judge had stopped talking and was now resting his head on his chin, his shockingly blue eyes perusing around the Hall. 

"Iwa-chan!" Oikawa shouldered him. "Are you listening?"

"Huh?" Iwaizumi turned and didn't bother to hide his annoyance. "Yes. A giant snake or whatever."

"Yes! So the snake was just slithering around in the sky and out of nowhere it just swallowed the sun. And I couldn't see anything and I wouldn't wake up."

Iwaizumi rolled his eyes. Oikawa's dreams never made any sense, but sometimes they were seriously ridiculous.

"What do you think it means?" there was a small frown on Oikawa's face as he remembered his dream. 

"It doesn't mean anything idiot," Iwaizumi bumped his shoulder not too gently but Oikawa smiled at him regardless. 

"I know Iwa-chan!" he leaned closer and whispered. "But it was still scary."

Iwaizumi rolled his eyes, "stop being such a kid."

Oikawa pouted but didn't continue to talk about it. Iwaizumi finished off his breakfast and half-listened to the headmaster's speech, half tried to keep Oikawa from steering the conversation onto how Gryffindor where going to get whipped in Quidditch this year. He caught a few things, mostly to do with the first trial and the champions having to report to the Quidditch Pitch before lunch for their 'preparation' whatever that could be. The headmaster eventually motioned for the 4th judge to come forward, and to very loud applause he was introduced. He didn't say anything, just a quick bow, a smile and he sitting back down again. The hall settled again as everyone began to make their way to class. 

Iwaizumi stood up and started to make his way out of the hall. Everyone would be going to their morning classes as the task was going to be held in the afternoon. He looked behind and turned around to hit Oikawa's head with the side of his hand when the other didn't follow him.

"Ow."

"Let's go," Iwaizumi grabbed the back of his robes and dragged his friend up for good measure, much to the amusement of Nishinoya. 

"Okay, okay," Oikawa batted his hand away and the two of them started to walk down the hall. 

 

______________________________________________________________

 

"How are you feeling?" Akaashi looked worriedly down at Kenma's empty plate. "Don't you think you should eat something?"

Kenma shook his head, "I'm not hungry."

Akaashi didn't push it but made a mental note to find Kenma something to eat before the first trial began. The Ravenclaw table was mostly empty this morning; when Akaashi had left the common room everyone had been crowding around encouraging Ushijima. Akaashi couldn't imagine that would make Kenma feel any better, although it didn't seem like he particularly cared for any support. 

"Isn't that your friend?" Kenma asked quietly, inclining his head slightly, and Akaashi followed his gaze.

His stomach tightened and his mouth suddenly felt very dry. Bokuto was quickly making his way over, waving cheerfully. Akaashi's eyes were drawn to the bandage wrapped around his forearm and unwelcome memories of the previous day resurfaced. Akaashi looked away, and bit his lip. Bokuto didn't have a lot of common sense, but he wasn't stupid. He would probably want answers. Answers Akaashi knew he wasn't ready to give, and that Bokuto definitely wasn't ready to hear.

"Akaashi!" Bokuto flopped down next to him and then noticed Kenma. "Hey! Aren't you one of the champions?"

Kenma stared at a piece of toast and slowly nodded. 

"That's cool," Bokuto turned back to Akaashi, who quickly looked away from Bokuto's arm. 

He didn't say anything as Bokuto very obviously gave him a once over.

"You okay Akaashi?" he finally said and Akaashi quickly reached out and poured himself some orange juice. 

"Yeah, of course," he watched his cup fill up and put the jug down, "why wouldn't I be?"

"Look!" Bokuto waved his injured arm in Akaashi's face with a pout. "I got splinched!"

"Really," Akaashi took a sip of his orange juice. 

Bokuto moved his arm away from Akaashi's face, a frown forming on his face. Kenma finally picked up a piece of toast and put it on his plate. Akaashi resisted the temptation to rub his forehead, and resolutely did not look at Bokuto. His friend deserved an explanation for everything that had happened yesterday. God, he'd been a terrible friend. After they'd, through some miracle, apparated back at Hogwarts, he'd woken up in the Hospital Wing with Bokuto in the bed besides him. Then he'd left. He'd checked Bokuto would be okay sure, but he hadn't explained anything to him. He'd even avoided him for the rest of that day. If he was in Bokuto's shoes, he'd be livid.

"You sure you're okay?" Bokuto threw an arm over Akaashi's shoulder and leant closer. "If this is about what happened yesterday, you know I can keep a secret!"

Akaashi knew Bokuto probably thought he was whispering but by the way Kenma's eyebrows had raised slightly as he munched on his toast, he definitely hadn't been as quiet as he seemed to think he was being. Gently, Akaashi lifted Bokuto's arm off his shoulder and put it down on the table. 

"Akaashi?" Bokuto said curiously. 

"I'm fine. You should be getting some rest," he answered turning back to picking at the crumbs on edges of his empty plate with his fork. 

"Akaashi," said Bokuto, putting his head on Akaashi's shoulder and whinging right into his ear, "you can tell me."

"Bokuto, shouldn't you..." Akaashi trailed off for a few seconds. "Be elsewhere?"

Bokuto lifted his head and stared at Akaashi. He quickly looked away, trying to find anything else to look at. His eyes finally met with Kenma who was surprisingly looking directly at him, although he looked back down to the table when Akaashi and him made eye contact. Akaashi rolled his eyes when he saw Kenma start to push the piece of toast around on his plate.

"Eat up," he said and raised an eyebrow when Kenma didn't stop. "You're going to need the energy."

"Fine," Kenma looked a little annoyed but didn't argue and started to eat, even when Akaashi added a spoon of scrambled eggs to his plate. 

"Akaashi I'm hungry too!" Bokuto bumped his shoulder and Akaashi sighed as he turned back to his friend. 

Akaashi knew he was being a jerk. Bokuto didn't deserve to be treated like this after what had happened yesterday; Bokuto didn't deserve to be treated like this period in Akaashi's opinion. But what could he say? He was a terrible liar, and as emotionally dense as Bokuto was, even he would be able to tell Akaashi was lying. And then he would constantly pester him for the truth. The only thing he could do was not talk to him. 

"Get some food then," Akaashi said. 

Bokuto slumped down in his seat and Akaashi bit his lip. 

"Give me your plate," he said after a few moments of silence, interrupted every now and then by Kenma's munching.

Bokuto immediately perked up and gave Akaashi his plate with a large smile. 

"Thanks Akaashi!" he said, bouncing up and down on his seat, his eyes shining as they followed Akaashi heaping everything he knew Bokuto liked on his plate.

"Here you go," Akaashi gave it to Bokuto, who clapped his hands excitedly. 

"Thanks," he said, and promptly began to stuff his face. 

Akaashi watched him, and couldn't help but smile a little, but it faded when Bokuto's sleeve rode up and he caught sight of the bandage. He immediately looked down at his plate, and quickly began to eat, making sure to not look at Bokuto again. 

"Kozume! Kozume!" 

Akaashi looked back up to see Ennoshita running over to where they were sitting. 

"What's wrong?" he asked as he felt Kenma tense up besides him. 

Ennoshita let out a breath and then grinned excitedly, "all the champions are supposed to report to Takeda's office."

Akaashi made to stand up but Ennoshita shook his head, "he's supposed to go by himself."

Akaashi turned to Kenma, and all of a sudden he noticed the large dark bags around his eyes. Kenma looked exhausted. Akaashi hadn't been worried before, well he had been a little concerned but he knew Kenma was good at spells so he hadn't been that worried, but now getting a look at him, the boy didn't look like he would even be able to tell the difference between a doxy and a pixie. 

"Are you okay?" he asked quietly and Kenma nodded as he shovelled the last bits of egg into his mouth.

"Good luck," said Akaashi and for good measure ruffled Kenma's hair then leaned a little closer, "you'll do great."

Kenma nodded, and quickly made his way over to Ennoshita, pulling his sleeves down to cover his slightly trembling hands as he did. Akaashi's eyes followed him as Ennoshita pointed him in the right direction. 

"Don't worry Akaashi!" Bokuto said cheerily. "He'll be fine."

Akaashi wanted to turn around and smile at Bokuto. He wanted to tell he was sorry for pulling into his messed up life. And he wanted to say thank you. But it was all too difficult. Bokuto was the type to ask question after question after question. And if Akaashi told him the truth, well, it wouldn't be long until the entirety of Hogwarts knew. And telling Bokuto that he couldn't tell him, was just asking for not a single moment of peace. 

Best just let Bokuto forget it. He didn't deserve this, and Akaashi knew he was being selfish, but he would make it up to Bokuto. He just needed him to forget. Which was unfair, Akaashi knew that. Because Bokuto had been there, and anyone would have questions, and he had been hurt. But Akaashi would make it up to him, he would. And then everything would go back to normal.

 

______________________________________________________________

 

It had gone past being amusing, it had gone past endearing, hell it had even gone past being exasperating. Now it was just vexing. Why was it whenever Michiyima chose to sit next to someone, they seemed to find it the perfect time to either brood, sulk, languish or mope over whatever happened to be upsetting them that day?

She didn’t invite any of this surely? Was it her face? Maybe she just had a very amiable face. But tons of her friends had nice faces! And none of them had to deal with kinda stuff. She just came here to watch the trials, cheer for whoever she wanted to cheer for and join in on the school spirit. But of course, fate had other plans. And they weren't even interesting, adventurous or even fun, they were just boring and sometimes painful. Like now.

“I don’t get it…”

“I don’t get it either.”

“Bro.”

“Bro.”

But no, and this, she admitted, was her mistake, she'd chosen to sit next to two moping morons. Wasn’t Boktuo supposed to be the type that literally ate sunshine for breakfast and then bounced off the walls until the end of the day? 

“He’s being weird,” Bokuto whinged to Kuroo. 

Michiyima was trying very hard to _not_ eavesdrop. But Bokuto wasn’t particularly quiet. And she was sitting right next to him. 

“You don’t think he’s mad at me?”

“Why would he be mad at you?” Kuroo was twirling his wand in between his fingers, a dark scowl on his face as he watched people below him rushing around on the Quidditch court. 

Bokuto slumped forward, “I don’t know! Because of what happened earlier?”

“That Apparition stuff?” Kuroo asked, expression darkening as activity began to heighten below.

Michiyima looked down and tried to contain her excitement. It was finally beginning to set in that this was the Triwizard Tournament. It hadn’t happened in over three decades, and she had been lucky enough to still be attending when they brought it back. Various wizards from the ministry were busy setting up whatever the first task was going to be. Michiyima was pretty sure it was under some sort of charm because whenever she tried to focus on what they were doing, her eyes would just flick away. 

“Yeah!” Bokuto said loudly next to her and she jumped slightly. “I didn’t understand that either!”

“Just ask him,” Kuroo was very obviously in a terrible mood.

“I did…” Bokuto whined, “and he wouldn’t answer me! I think he’s mad at me!”

Just as Kuroo looked like he was about to answer, there was a loud bang and Michiyima nearly jumped out of her seat. She watched in awe as a the air around the court began to shimmer and slowly the arena for the first task began to reveal itself. 

“Oh my god…” she said out loud, in total awe of what was in front of her. 

It was some sort of obstacle course but nothing like the ones Michiyima had ever seen before. The court had been completely transformed. 

“What have they done?!” howled Bokuto, his mood making him even more dramatic than usual. 

Kuroo was just staring, his face pale and slack. Michiyima supposed she should probably have been worried about him, but she was just too impressed. The once large expanse of green grass had been turned into an arena of various creatures, curses and magical traps. 

It was definitely an obstacle course. But with obstacles of the like Michiyima had ever seen before. It was like a combination of muggle and wizardry to create something that looked like it would take a gargantuan effort to get through, even if you were as good as magic as Michiyima knew Ushijima to reputedly be. There was a tent on the far side of the pitch, stationed just before the start of the obstacle course. Michiyima assumed that was where the champions were preparing.

“WOAH! Doesn’t this look badass?!” 

All three of them jumped at the sudden shriek that echoed across the entire court. Michiyima turned her head and couldn’t help but smile. Nishinoya was standing in the teacher’s booth holding a microphone with a massive grin on his face. There was a tall boy with bright red hair Michiyima recognised from the Ravenclaw Quidditch team standing next to him. 

“No swearing please Noya…” Michiyima faintly heard Professor Takeda exasperatedly reprimanding Nishinoya through the microphone. 

“Gryffindor’s seeker?” Bokuto squinted his eyes. “What’s he doing up there?”

“Looks like he’s the announcer.”

“Welcome everyone! To the first task of the Triwizard Tournmanent! It’s gonna be wild!”

Nishinoya’s magically enhanced voice echoed around the pitch as the everyone in the stands let out whoops of excitement and thundering applause. 

“That’s what I’m talking about! Louder!”

The pitch roared. 

“Woooo!” yelled Michiyima, standing up and clapping, before noticing the distressed look on Kuroo’s face.

“Oya what’s with the face?” Bokuto had obviously seen it too. 

“He’d hate this. He’d hate this,” muttered Kuroo, his eyes glued to the champion’s tents. 

“Who?” Bokuto said but Kuroo didn’t answer. 

Bokuto scowled and crossed his arms.

“Is it this national avoid answering questions day or what?”

Michiyama decided to not answer that and instead focus on what was happening around here. It was none of her business. Kuroo and her weren’t even that good friends. In fact, Michiyima considered it to be something of a stretch to call them friends really. 

“Okay so the champions are getting ready…it’ll be starting soon guys! I am so pumped! Ready for Hogwarts to kick everyone’s a-!”

“Nishinoya we said no bias!” Takeda interrupted him to an outburst of laughter from the audience, despite some boos.

“Alright, alright. Sorry sir, although if the Hogwarts champion was from Gryffindor no one would be booing-”

“Noya!”

“Sorry, sorry. Okay, so we have Ushijima from Hogwarts, bit too serious if you ask me, could’ve done with Gryffindor champion to make things more interesting but it’s fine! And then Alisa Haiba from Dumstrang, I don’t know anything about her but she’s gonna do great. And then Kozume Kenma! Who’s that again? Ravenclaw! Tendo just said he’s from Ravenclaw which is you know, not bad, he’s no Gryffindor but-“

Kuroo stood up, so suddenly Bokuto let out a squawk and almost fell backward off his chair. 

“What are you doing?” asked Michiyima, confused.

“I need to talk to Kenma,” he said and made to head over to Nishinoya. 

“Kuroo!” Michiyima said.

“Kuroo sit down,” an exasperated voice called out and Michiyima turned her head to look above her. 

Yaku was scowling down at Kuroo, his arms crossed. They had a stand off for a few seconds, both of them glaring at each, until Kuroo slowly sat back down. He may have backed off, but now anger was emanating off him in waves. Michiyima stared at him. Kuroo was acting seriously weird.The Kuroo she knew was always, well not calm, but collected at least. He was confident and everything was under his control. Michiyima couldn’t help but be curious, despite herself, of why he was acting so out of character. And not to mention Bokuto, who was still slumped down on his seat. 

“I’m so sad right now…” said Bokuto and Michiyima rolled her eyes.

Kuroo scowled, “I can’t believe this.”

“Bro, you need to calm down,” Bokuto looked morosely out onto the pitch. “You getting mad’s not gonna to change anything.”

Kuroo leaned back and looked at Bokuto, seeming to want to answer but suddenly just letting out a massive sigh. 

“I guess you’re right.”

A smile that even Michiyima could tell was forced stretched his face as he looked at the two of them. 

“Let’s enjoy this thing.”

“How on earth did Nishinoya manage to become the announcer?” A new voice spoke from above them. 

Once again, Michiyima was forced to turn around and she could have cried with relief when she saw who it was. 

“Akaaaaaashiii!” Bokuto immediately jumped up and then suddenly scowled before sitting back down again. “No! I’m ignoring you right now.”

Akaashi sighed but didn’t say anything, instead sitting down next to Bokuto. Michiyima didn’t hear what he said, but it must have been good because Bokuto immediately brightened. Michiyima wished the same could be said for Kuroo, who was still dully glaring at the obstacle course below them.

 

______________________________________________________________

 

Yaku cast his eyes around the mostly filled stands, and sighed. It was his fault for oversleeping, but it was still annoying. His friends had all disappeared off somewhere, apparently too 'scared' to wake him up. 

"Hey!"

People around him were yelling, and it was honestly beginning to get on his nerves. Where were they? Oh yes, he thought, go to a great Magic School in the middle of nowhere, where there's a literal curse on it to stop technology working because having a phone in a school bigger than Yaku's entire apartment block back home wouldn't be helpful at all. 

"Hey! Yaku!" 

Wait a minute. Yaku was  _his_ name. He looked around, and almost immediately caught sight of an long arm flailing around all too excitedly in the air. This arm, Yaku didn't even need to look to know, could only belong to Lev. Who else could be so obnoxiously loud and energetic without coming off as annoying and attention seeking. Okay, only a little. He resembled a small puppy too much for Yaku to get irritated at. After a moment's hesitation, and another quick glance around the stands, he eventually gave in and made his way over to Lev.

"Hey Yaku!" 

Inuoka grinned cheerfully at the older boy as he sat down next to them. There was Lev, Inuoka and someone Yaku was pretty sure was from Dumstrang on the further side. 

"That's Kindaichi," Lev saw him looking and inclined his head towards the other boy. "He's from Dumstrang too."

"Ah," Yaku bowed his head slightly with a small, forced smile, "it's nice to meet you."

"Oh um, yeah. Nice to meet you too," Kindaichi ducked his head back before turning to face the pitch again. 

"Thought you'd watching with Fukunaga or Kai," Inuoka said curiously, talking over Lev who cocked his head curiously as Yaku answered. 

"I would be," Yaku said, trying not to sound too annoyed, "if I could find them."

Lev nodded sagely, and then thoughtfully added, "it must be quite hard for you to find people in a crowd."

Yaku frowned, but decided to ignore him. If he let himself get mad, someone was going to get hurt, because he was in a foul mood. Instead he leant forward slightly and cast his eyes over the obstacle course. It was impressive. He'd never seen anything like it. It made all those Muggle game shows look like a walk in the park. And he didn't doubt there were plenty of pitfalls and hidden dangers, magical and otherwise. 

"Pretty cool isn't it?" Lev leaned forward as well, eyes wide as they travelled up and down the pitch. 

"Yeah," Yaku nodded. "Very impressive."

"I'm sure Alisa'll be fine," Inuoka clapped Lev's shoulder with a bright smile. "From what I've heard, she's great at physical stuff and magic."

Lev nodded enthusiastically and grinned, "she's gonna blow it apart."

Yaku couldn't help but smile, "you're cheering for her?"

Lev looked at him, "of course!"

"Hey Yaku, you should give him one of your louder charms," Inuoka winked at Lev, "then you can really go for it."

"You don't need a charm!" Tanaka said enthusistically and Yaku winced as he let out an extremely loud cheer. "See?"

"Tanaka sit down!" 

Daichi's voice interrupted Tanaka yelling and the latter quickly sat down, looking around to no avail. 

"Where even is he?" he muttered under his breath, throwing a surreptitious glance over his shoulder. 

"A loud charm?" Lev looked at Yaku interested who shrugged. 

"Amplifying charm technically."

He  _had_ learnt how to cast one, at the insistence of Bokuto and after a few tries and accidentally causing Bokuto to hoot for an owl for a few days (not that many people noticed anything different), he'd finally managed to master it. 

"Can you do it?"

"The first champion to take on this trial is...Alisa Haiba! From Dumstrang!" Noya's voice echoed across the stands and Yaku looked down the Quidditch pitch to see Alisa walking out of the champion's tent, happily waving at everyone above her.

"Go!" Lev jumped up and started to cheer loudly. 

Yaku grinned and stood up next to him. 

"Go Alisa!!" 

He could heat Bokuto's yelling from far off and he rolled his eyes. 

"Hufflepuff! Hufflepuff! Hufflepuff!" Inuoka was also cheering off to the side. 

The stadium was bursting with excitement, not just of the Dumstrang and Hufflepuff students, but over the Triwizard Tournament itself. This was the first trial, the first taste of what the Tournament was going to be like. He felt someone pulling at his arm.

"What?" He said, turning his head to see Lev looking at him with gleaming eyes. 

"Teach me the charm!" He said enthusiastically. 

"Do you really need it?" Said Yaku skeptically. 

Lev nodded, "I can't hear anything! I can barely hear you talking from up here!"

Yaku raised an annoyed eyebrow and then paused. 

"Why don't I teach you?"

"What?" Lev looked surprised as Yaku became more enthusiastic. 

"It'll help with your charms."

Yaku very seriously doubted Lev would get it right on his first try. But that didn't change the fact that it would most definitely help Lev with his magic.

"Yaku," said Inuoka who'd obviously been listening in, "you sure this is a good idea?"

"It'll be fine," said Yaku dismissively. "It's easy."

"Okay!" said Lev. "Let's do it."

"Okay. Hold your wand to your neck like this," Yaku pulled out his wand and put the tip just below his ear. 

Lev copied his him and Yaku nodded. 

"Good," he said, and he tucked his wand back into his sleeve. "The incantation is _sonorus_."

"Lev, I don't think-" Inuoka started.

" _Sonorus_ ," said Lev. 

There was a slight glow at the end of his wand and Yaku bit his lip. That wasn't supposed to happen. Lev put his wand down and excitedly opened his mouth. Nothing came out. His eyes widened and his mouth opened wider. Still nothing. 

"Oh," Yaku said. 

Inuoka started to laugh.

"Yes!" Whooped Yamamoto his body shaking with laughter. 

Lev's hands went to his throat and he looked panicked. 

"I can't believe it," Inuoka managed to gasp out between guffaws. 

"Finally we can have some quiet," laughed Yamamoto, just as gleeful. 

"Stop laughing," said Yaku, but more exasperated than serious.

Lev started to pull at Yaku's sleeve and Yaku turned to look at him. The younger boy looked extremely panicked, so much he wasn't even concentrating on his sister who was yelling and bounding across the obstacle course in the completely overwhelmingly energetic way Yaku had come to expect from the Haibas. 

"You'll be fine," said Yaku, "it should wear wear off in a few minutes."

Lev pulled at Yaku's sleeve again and animatedly waved at his throat. 

"I can't do anything," said Yaku, shaking him off, "I could make it worse."

Lev became more agitated and with a scowl pointed at Yaku, and then back at his throat again and the aggressively prodded the air in front of Yaku. Yaku felt a tiny bit of anger start to bubble in him. Yamamoto and Inuoka had also stopped laughing as they noticed Yaku's face darkening to match Lev's scowl. 

"You think this is my fault?" said Yaku slowly. 

Lev nodded fiercely. He then pointed at Yaku's robes and back at his throat. 

"I told you. I don't know how terribly  _you_ have messed up. So I can't help."

Lev shook his head, his scowl getting more pronounced, his mouth opening and closing like his fish and his arms flaying around like a two-tentacled octopus. It was a comical sight. If Yaku hadn't been so annoyed at him, he probably would have laughed. He could see Yamamoto and Inuoka chortling on the other side of Lev. 

"It'll wear off in a few minutes," Yaku repeated himself, gritting his teeth as Lev continued to point at him. 

Lev poked his arm and Yaku snapped at him. 

"Will you stop that?"

Yamamoto and Inuoka's mouth's clammed shut, their chuckling immediately cutting off. Lev stared at Yaku with even wider eyes as the smaller boy glared at him. 

"I told you to just wait," Yaku said shortly.

Lev's mouth opened and closed. Slowly he turned back to look at the obstacle course. Unbeknownst to them in all the excitement, Alisa had been making her way across the obstacle course. She'd easily got past what Yaku guessed was Devil's Snare, and she'd managed to get past a group of Kappas with only a few small scratches on her legs. Now she was making her way across a seemingly empty piece of grass. Yaku was concentrating, trying to see anything that could be dangerous when Lev poked his arm again. He ignored him. Lev did it again. And again. And again. And then again. Yaku turned to him. 

"What?" he barked at him.

Lev looked taken back again but he obviously steeled himself and pointed at his throat and Yaku. Slowly the latter let out a breath. Was Lev serious?

"It hasn't even been two minutes," he said, "not even two minutes."

Lev looked a little scared. 

"I  _told_ you. Just wait a few minutes. Ten minutes at most. And it'll wear off." Yaku managed to grit out. 

Lev hesitated but scowled and began to wave his arms around angrily, pointing at Yaku then to him and then back to Yaku, still nothing coming out of his moving mouth, but he managed to scratch Yaku's face in his temper tantrum.

"Ow," said Yaku, lifting his hand to cover his throbbing cheek.

Lev looked shocked and quickly lowered his arms. He opened his mouth, a remorseful look on his face. 

"You're a nightmare," said Yaku, more to himself than anyone as he took his hand down and saw red dotting his hand. 

He stood up without another word and began to make his way down the stands.

"Hey Yaku!" Inuoka called out to him but he just waved a hand behind him. 

"It's fine," he said.

He made his way down the stairs, keeping an eye on Alisa's progress. She was running across a seemingly clear patch of the pitch, until suddenly something shot out of the grass and wrapped around her foot. Yaku froze, his foot halfway to another step as she was hoisted up in the air with shocked scream. He could see her struggling, pulling at the strand around her leg. She managed to pull it off, but seemed to forget she had been suspended a few metres off the ground. She fell. Yaku caught sight of her face. She looked absolutely terrified, obviously too panicked to think of a spell to help her. Yaku's hands were clenched into fists. The fall would by no means kill her, she was a quidditch player after all, she would surely have fallen from higher before. But it would hurt. She hit the ground with a loud groan. 

The writhing plant's vines were moving again but Alisa couldn't seem to move. Yaku knew it wasn't just the fall. It was the fear, the panic. That plant had come out of nowhere and she hadn't been able to do anything. She was probably terrified. The plant wrapped around her again, squeezing around her. Alisa started to wheeze as the crowds started to yell encouragement to her. She struggled to get free. Yaku saw her lips move and there was a loud boom. The plant retreated and Alisa crumpled to the ground, her face singed and the sleeves of her robes burnt up to her elbows. 

She didn't move. The crowd was mumbling and muttering. After a few seconds of silence, Nishinoya's voice descended upon the stands. 

"Is she okay?" he asked uncertainly. 

After a few more moments, finally there was some movement. Yaku could see a few of the Tournament administrators make their wav to Alisa. They waved their wand and sort of barrier sprung up around them and Alisa. One of them put his hand on her shoulder and she slowly lifted her head. The stadium roared with applause and Yaku let out a sigh of relief. The two administrators helped her stand and all three of them made their way off the course. 

Yaku finally started to move again. He quickly made his way down and ran to the Nurse's tent. It was right next to the champions tent and Yaku had to resist the temptation to peek inside. He was about to open the flap to the Nurse's tent when he caught sight of Kuroo hovering next to the entrance of the other tent. 

"Kuroo?" he asked. 

The Slytherin captain started and looked up, a smile quickly covering the worried expression that had been on his face just a second previously. 

"If it isn't Hufflepuff's keeper."

"What are you doing here?"

Kuroo shrugged and didn't answer. 

"Right," Yaku couldn't be bothered to try and get an answer out of him.

He made to go in but Kuroo stopped him. 

"Hey why are you going in?"

"Look at my face," said Yaku and pointed to scratch, which he was pretty sure had stopped bleeding. 

"Wow. You've gone through so much," said Kuroo.

"Shut up," Yaku rolled his eyes. "What do you want?"

"Can you check and make sure Ken-I mean Kozume is alright?"

"Why don't you do check yourself?" Yaku raised an eyebrow and Kuroo shrugged with a little smirk. 

"Wouldn't want him to get the wrong idea ya know?"

"You're awful," Yaku shook his head and let out a sigh. "Fine."

"Thanks Yakkun."

"Yeah, yeah."

Kuroo strolled off and Yaku sighed again. He was just too nice. If him trying to help someone backfired again he was going to swear off helping others for the rest of the year. He opened the tent and walked in. There was a group of people crowded around one of the beds, arguing in hushed whispers.

"She got past the checkpoint..."

"I don't think...given to her..."

"Don't...unfair...others..."

Yaku quietly made his way to the back of the medic tent, where one of the Hogwarts nurses was bustling around. She looked as he came up to her small table. She smiled at him. 

"What can I do for you young man?"

"Just some disinfectant and a bandage," said Yaku.

"Let's see," the nurse looked at his cheek and clicked her tongue, "that's a nasty cut. You sure you don't want me to fix it up quick with magic?"

"Yeah," Yaku said unthinkingly, frowning a bit. 

That reminded him. Lev would probably be in quite a state having seen his sister go through all that. He bit his lip as the nurse handed him a bottle of disinfectant and some bandages. 

"Thanks," said Yaku taking them and sitting down on his bed. 

He sorted himself out and handed the bottle back to the nurse. He looked over and was glad to see Alisa sitting up, their eyes met and he gave a little wave. She smiled back, and lifted a bandaged arm in response. All the administrators that had been crowding around her had left. There was only one left now. Yaku tilted his head slightly, wasn't that the fourth judge? Yeah, it was. That silver hair and poker posture. There was no doubt. It was Sylvester Siamore. 

"Are you feeling better?" 

Yaku casually strolled onto one of the beds, and lay down, quietly pulling the curtains shut. Judge Siamore obviously hadn't noticed he was still there. 

"Yes, I'm much better thank you," Alisa answered. 

"Excellent," he continued to speak, his voice soft and comforting. "I'm glad to say that as you passed the halfway mark of the course, you do get a clue to help you in the next trial. However as you only got halfway, you will only receive half the available points."

"Okay," Alisa sounded disappointed and Yaku heard Judge Siamore let out a chuckle. 

"Don't worry my dear. That in itself is quite an achievement."

"Really?"

"Yes, well, the Tournament is designed to test young wizards and witches to their limits."

"That makes me feel better," Alisa said, sounding much more cheerful. 

"Excellent. Here is your hint. Listen it carefully and think hard. I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out."

"Thank you sir."

Yaku heard footsteps and the 'woosh' of the flap opening. 

"Were you eavesdropping?"

Yaku poked his head out of the curtains to see Alisa smiling at him. He smiled back at her innocently. 

"I may have happened to overhear a little."

Alisa laughed a little and then held up her hand, "I guess you might as well listen until the end then."

Yaku's eyes widened. Sitting in the nook of her hand, was a tiny little figurine-like sphinx. It turned its head and blinked lazily at him before yawning and turning back to Alisa. 

"Are you ready for your riddle?" It asked. 

Alisa nodded and Yaku scrambled off his own bed and went to stand next to hers. He stared in awe at the tiny sphinx. 

"That's amazing," he said and the sphinx turned to look at him again. 

It didn't say anything, just turned back to Alisa and opened its mouth. In a rich, sing-song voice, it spoke:

 

"Think of green and grass and growth

Think of what decay is loath

These houses proudly stand

Serving as what should be in land

In these seven you may unearth

If you truly show your mirth

The clue that hides itself away

That lets the fear upon us weigh"

 

Having finished, it curled up in Alisa hand and froze. Yaku and Alisa looked at each other. 

"What does that mean?" Asked Alisa, totally confused. 

"I suppose that's what you have to find out," said Yaku.

 

______________________________________________________________

 

Daichi wasn't 100% sure how Nishinoya had managed to convince whoever it was he had to convince to become the commentator, but he was torn between how stupid Nishinoya was being and how entertaining it was. Daichi knew he was _supposed_ to be neutral, being headboy and all, but one couldn't help favouring your own House a little. It was natural wasn't it?

"I think he might be having more fun than the Champions," said Suga, obviously amused by Nishinoya's enthusiasm. 

Daichi couldn't help but raise an eyebrow as he watched Alisa being helped into the Champions' tent. 

"I'm not entirely sure they're having a whole lot of fun right now."

Suga pursed his lips and followed his eyes, a small frown forming when they landed on the hobbling girl. 

"No, I suppose not."

"She'll be okay right?" Asahi asked worriedly and Suga smiled reassuringly at him. 

"I'm sure she'll be fine. It didn't look like too bad of a fall."

"And up next we have! From our very own hoggy hoggy Hogwarts, tear the roof, wait there is no roof, tear the sky down, no that doesn't work either…make a whole lot of noise for Ushijima Wakatoshi! Let's show 'em how it's done Ushiwaka! Dragos corpeus sleepus or whatever the school motto is! Let's go!"

"Jesus…" sighed Daichi, wincing at Nishinoya's antics. 

Suga besides him was laughing, and Asahi was wearing a small endearing smile. Daichi shook his head ruefully, and decided to just let Nishinoya have his way today. He wasn't causing anyone any harm at least, although he was definitely going to get an earful from some teachers later on. 

"Hey Captain."

Daichi turned his head to see Iwaizumi sitting down on the seat next to him, with Oikawa glaring down at the pitch as he sat down next to them. 

"Hey, where have you been?" he asked as Iwaizumi held up a hand in greeting to Suga and Asahi. 

"Trying to get this princess to come watch," Iwaizumi pointed behind him. 

"What's up with him?" Daichi asked curiously, as Oikawa continued to glare down below them.

Iwaizumi shrugged, "Ushijima," he said, with no further explanation. 

Daichi decided not to push it and turned back to face the front. Ushijima had just come out, and all of them (excluding Oikawa) put their hands together. 

"Is Ushijima good at magic?" asked Suga curiously and Daichi nodded with a rueful grin. 

"Very good."

"People say he's good enough to work as an Auror straight out of Hogwarts," Asahi said with his eyes wide.

"He's a teacher's pet," Oikawa added and Iwaizumi elbowed him. 

They watched as the horn sounded and Ushijima began to make his way across the obstacle course. His way couldn't have been more different to Alisa's. He was careful and sure, steadily making his way through each obstacle, and only doing what he needed and not a bit more. 

"He's quite reserved," observed Suga and Daichi nodded in response. 

"He's not really an exhibisonist when it comes to magic."

"Do you think he'll win?" Suga asked lightly. 

Daichi looked at him, there was a sparkle in Suga's eyes and he smiled to himself. Suga was so very careful with what he said, it was sometimes too easy to read him. Daichi had spent enough time with the other boy to learn how to read him. The lighter something was spoken, the more curious he was. 

"Yes," he said honestly, "but I don't really know Beauxbatons' champion so I can't be sure."

Suga smiled at him, "good answer."

"I thought so," Daichi smiled back, with a slightly red-face.

He still hadn't got completely used to Suga's rare smiles, the ones that usually came after Daichi said or did something less than intelligent. Of course, it had occurred to Daichi that Suga could very well be laughing at him, but he didn't really care. That smile was beautiful, it was worth the embarrassment. They didn't talk for a few moments, watching Ushijima make his way across the course. It was definitely a lot less eventful than Alisa's run, but it was nonetheless impressive. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that Ushijima was strong, he moved forward without a single doubt in his movements - he was going to make it to the end. 

"He is good," Suga said softly, leaning slightly into Daichi to keep his eyes on the Hogwarts champion. 

Daichi nodded, trying very hard not to turn as red as a tomato as Suga's arm brushed against his. His skin was surprisingly cold, immediately making Daichi worry that he wasn't warm enough, despite the pleasant Autumn weather. 

"Do you want-" he started but was interrupted by a ear-splitting shriek, and no, it was not coming from Nishinoya.

"Owwww!" Asahi put his hands to his ears and Daichi gritted his teeth and covered his own. 

"What the hell?" Nishinoya's voice could barely be heard. 

Various shouts of 'cover your ears' and 'don't panic' were lost in the wailing. Suga besides him was standing up, moving agitatedly, squinting, trying to see what was going on down below, presumably from where shriek was coming from. Daichi lifted a hand from his ear, and wincing, quickly pulled Suga back down. He put one of Suga's hands over his ears before motioning him to cover the other one, quickly putting his hand back over his own. He was aware of Suga staring at him in surprise, but he was too busy checking everyone around him was safe to dwell on it. There was no point in trying to say anything, the wailing was way too loud. All he could to was check everyone was okay.

He rolled his eyes when he'd finally gone full circle and saw Iwaizumi grumpily covering Oikawa's ears as the latter smirked down at the course. 

The shriek suddenly came to an abrupt stop and slowly everyone uncovered their ears. Daichi looked down to a dishevelled looking Ushijima holding his wand out in front of him, and a large ice block a few meters in front of him. 

"Wooooh!" Nishinoya's voice echoed through the shocked silent stands. "How epic was that?! I say give Ushiwaka some applause for that! Wow! That guy's got the guts of a Gryffindor!"

"Woooh!"

"Ushijima!"  


"So awesome!" 

The stands filled with cheers of encouragement and Daichi was pretty sure relief, as Ushijima continued on his way. Iwaizumi took out his ears plugs and glared at Oikawa. 

"Idiot," he said. 

"Hey, Iwa-chan!" Oikawa pouted. 

Daichi raised an eyebrow in question and Iwaizumi shook his head. 

"Moron was too busy trying to see what Ushijima was doing to cover his ears," he waved his earplugs in front of Oikawa's face, "you're lucky I have these."

"Why do you have earplugs?" Suga peered over Daichi, curiously looking at the obviously enchanted plugs. 

Iwaizumi shrugged. 

"They were a present from my aunt," he looked over at Oikawa, "they've come in pretty useful. Never thought I'd have to use them against an actual Banshee wail though."

Daichi let out an inelegant snort as Oikawa suddenly spun around to look at Iwaizumi. 

"You're not talking trash behind my back are you Iwa-chan?"

"No such thing Trashykawa, just talking facts," Iwaizumi said easily and Oikawa prissily turned his head back to the front.

"Are you okay?" Daichi quickly turned to Suga.

"I'm fine," answered Asahi, finally removing his hands from his ears, "I covered my ears as soon it started screaming."

Daichi stared blankly at him.

"I can't believe they put a Banshee on the course though," Asahi shook his head, "those things are dangerous. They might as well have put a werewolf or a vampire."

"Oh. Right, yeah, okay. Um, Suga, what about you?"

Suga smiled at him, his face a little pinched, "I'm fine."

Daichi smiled back, relieved everyone seemed to be okay before catching sight of Suga's hands, folded onto his lap. It was ever so slight, obviously trying to be masked, but Daichi could tell. It was a tremor. Suga was trembling. Daichi's eyes widened, had Suga really been that scared? Well, the boy had been exposed to the wail for more than a few seconds, which had probably been an extremely painful experience, and he was probably in shock. Daichi had to remember that Hogwarts tended to be much more prone to accidents and incidents than most schools, muggle and magical. 

He hesitated for a second, but glued his eyes on Ushijima walking steadily forward and quickly reached out to take one of Suga's hands. He felt the latter start, but he didn't let go and entwined the cool fingers with his own. He could feel Suga's gaze on his face but he didn't look at him. His heart was going at 100 miles per hour, and he was pretty sure the heat coming off his face was enough to warm the entire stadium. 

They stayed like that until Ushijima finished the course, and to resounding applause, Suga gently pulled his hand and away and clapped. Still resolutely looking away from him, Daichi clapped too, now completely unsure of how to feel, with disappointment, embarrassment, confusion and sorrow pooling through him. 

When the applause finally quietened, as Ushijima disappeared back into the champions' tent, Suga leaned in and so quietly it may have not been said at all he whispered, " _thank you_."

But it was said, and that, made all the difference.

 

______________________________________________________________

 

Kenma averted his eyes as Ushjima made his way back into the tent. Kenma made sure to not look at him, he'd seen Alisa, he wasn't sure he'd be able to handle seeing what the obstacle course had done to the other boy. He pulled his legs up to his chest, the balls of his feet resting on the edge of the bed he was sitting on. He rested his head on his knees and let out a yawn. He was tired, all he wanted to was sleep. He didn't want to have to go through the obstacle course. But could he even forfeit? People would talk more about him if he forfeited than if he actually did it.

"Hey, Kenma right?" He looked up blearily to see a rather short boy with reddish-copper hair smiling gently at him.

Slowly he nodded, stifling another yawn.

"I'm Yaku," the boy sat down besides him. "You nervous?"

"Um, a little…" Kenma said uncertainly.

Yaku nodded, "I still can't believe they brought it back."

"Um, yeah…" Kenma had no idea what he supposed to say.

Why was he talking to him? He just wanted to have a nap before his turn. His eyes were struggling to stay open, and he rested his head on his knees again. He shouldn't have stayed up all last night playing games. He'd hadn't got a single wink of sleep, being too busy making his way through various levels of the games Hinata had given him.

"Hey Kenma you okay?"

"Just tired," he said quietly, hoping the boy would get the message.

"I've got a charm that could make you feel better," he said, "if you want?"

Kenma lifted his head and looked at him disbelievingly.

"Really?"

Yaku grinned a little and nodded, "really."

"Okay…" Kenma still wasn't sure but it was better than feeling like all his body parts (in particular his eyelids) were hangers for various lead ornaments.

Yaku took out his wand and Kenma swallowed nervously.

"It won't hurt will it?"

"Oh no," Yaku smiled reassuringly.

He pointed his wand at Kenma's face and after a second's hesitation, he gave it a small wiggle and muttered: "sleepus wantus, sleepus stopus."

Kenma felt a soft breeze blow past his face. And then, nothing. He was still exhausted, maybe a little less, but definitely not enough to make that much of a difference.

Yaku must have noticed the disappointed look on his face because he smiled slightly, "give it a few moments, you'll feel better soon. I promise."

"Thanks," said Kenma, very much unconvinced.

Yaku smiled at him, slipping his wand back into his robes.

"You'll do great," he said, with such confidence that it took Kenma aback.

"Really…" Kenma said unsurely.

"Good luck!" Yaku stood up, making his way towards the exit. 

He turned back to him before he walked out of the tent and grinned at Kenma, "Kuroo's cheering for you."

Kenma's eyes widened.

"Wait-" he started but Yaku had already disappeared.

Kenma's legs were stiff as he tried to unfold them to run after him.

"Ow," he winced as he quickly made to leave but was stopped.

"Kozume!"

He turned around, his head still spinning from getting up so quickly, to see Professor Takeda poking his head around one of the rooms of the tents.

"It's your turn."

"What?"  Kenma's voice suddenly went dry, and his fingers twitched.

He wanted to run. He wanted to sleep. And he wanted to cry.

No, what he really wanted was to see Kuroo.

"Kozume?" Professor Takeda asked again and Kenma jumped.

"C-coming," he said quietly and took a deep breath.

It didn't matter what he wanted. He just had to get it over with. When it was done, it would be done. He made his way over to Takeda and saw Ushijima sitting on the bed, with a boy with bright red hair loudly swooning over his run. Kenma averted his eyes as he walked past, but he'd caught sight of a large gash across Ushijima's leg, and there was blood dripping down one of his ears.

Kenma swallowed nervously, but he was too tired to fully understand what was going.

"Alright Kozume, all you need to is to get to the end of the course. The time will start as soon as you step out of the tent. You're allowed your wand and you may use whatever magic you wish, within reason of course. I wish you the best."

Kenma blinked slowly, he just really wanted to sleep. Sleep would be so nice right now. All he could concentrate on what keeping his eyes open. He had to keep them open. Professor Takeda held the flap open for him and Kenma took another deep breath.

"Are you ready Kozume?" Takeda asked, stepping back slightly to let him through.

He was just so tired. Couldn't he just go to sleep right now? What would it even matter?

"Kenma?"

"I'm ready!"

A sudden burst of energy shot through him. It snapped open his eyes, tensed his entire body and got his heart beating at a hundred miles per hour. His limbs that had felt leaden with cement just before were now buzzing with adrenaline and his throbbing headache had completely retreated.

"Okay, good luck!"

Kenma stepped out and all he could see was what was in front of him. It was his video game. Obviously he was dreaming. Because the video game he'd been playing just a few hours ago was spread out in front of him. It was a course he had to complete to move on to the next stage, there were plants swaying back and forth, blocks he had to jump over, and he was pretty sure creatures were going jump out at him. He hadn't got a random surge of energy at all, he'd just fallen asleep. And now he was dreaming. Well, he might as well do it. It would be fun. A lot better than waking up and having to do the Triwizard Trial.

He slowly began to make his forward, and there was a roaring in his ears. He ignored it and by habit took out his wand. He let out a little smile, this was going to be fun. He loved playing video games. Now he got to play one. A big one. What fun. He pulled out his wand. How odd. He still hand his wand even in his dream. He looked at his closely. Yes, that was indeed his wand.

Amazing.

He looked up. Right what was first? There was a long strip of grass and Kenma could see it rustling and moving in way that definitely wasn't the wind. Which meant something was in there. The question was, what was it?

"Idiot."

"Stupid."

Was the grass talking to him?

"Ugly."

The grass was talking to him. Wow. This dream was weird.

"You are so dumb."

Wow. The grass was mean.

He started to walk forward and something rustled again. He jumped. No, this was fine. This wasn't real. It was fine. He took another step forward.

"Why so slow?"

A head popped up out of the grass and Kenma gaped at it. It was Sphinx.

"Sphinx?" said Kenma surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"Moron," another head popped up behind him.

Another Sphinx. Kenma's eyes widened. So many Sphinxes. This dream was really weird. If he was already used to the way Sphinx talked he would probably be quite upset. But it didn't bother him anymore. He was very much used to it. Slowly he made his way forward when suddenly something hit him in the chest and knocked him off his feet. All the air was forced from his lungs and he wheezed, lying in the grass for a second before his eyes focused on the creature. A slightly glowing white dog, snarling and snapping at him. Kenma dodged its teeth and reached for his wand.

He knew what this creature was. It was a Gytrash.

Quick. They didn't like light. Which meant...his fingers circled around his wand.

"Lu…mos!" He managed to get out, thrusting his wand and the Gytrash and it went flying off him, disappearing in the sunlight.

Kenma took in a massive breath, filling his lungs. Slowly he pushed himself back up, all the Jarveys that had been surrounding him scurrying him as he struggled to stand up. He staggered to the end of the grass patch and then stopped. The ground suddenly dipped to give way to a large pool, with stepping stones making their way across to other side.

"Next stage," muttered Kenma to himself.

He looked at the water. It was murky, with various reeds and lilypads definitely helping to hide whatever it was that was in the pool. Kenma was sure something was in there. It would be too easy otherwise. He steeled himself. He had to get past this to move on to the next stage though. He jumped from the edge onto the first stone. He froze.

Nothing jumped out at him.

He narrowed his eyes and looked around. After a few moments of nothing happening he decided to just run it. As a general rule, when in doubt, just going fast had passed him though at least two fifths of his games' levels. He hopped from one stone to another, as quick as he could. He jumped onto the last one and paused to take a breath.

The gap between the stone and the edge of the grass was just a bit too long for him to be completely confident that he would make it. Not that it really mattered. He was dreaming after all. But he didn't want it to end. He was pretty sure dying in this dream would wake him up. He was having fun. Kind of. He bit his lip, slipped his wand into his robe, and backed up a bit.

He gathered himself and then leapt forward. His front leg managed to reach the edge and he tipped forward. His back foot slipped into the water and he winced. It was freezing. He made to pull himself up when something slimy curled around his ankle. He let out a loud and high-pitched scream and kicked as hard as he could. He felt his shoe make contact with something and he quickly pulled himself up and turned around. He just managed to catch sight of an weird monkey-esque creature slip back into the reeds.

He let out a breath and struggled stand up, his one wet foot squelching as he straightened. He looked around, he was onto the next stage. It looked simple, just a patch of green grass. But the plants were writhing back and forth as if they were alive. Kenma recognised them. Venomous Tentacula. Which meant, as soon as he stepped out onto them, they would attack him.

He took a deep breath, pulled out and readied his wand, and then stepped out. Almost immediately, various vines shot up and then hurtled towards him.

"Diffindo!" He said loudly, and the arms of the plants all severed and fell writhing to the ground.

Kenma ran past them as quickly as he could. He reached the end of the stage and put his hands on his knees. He took a deep breath, he was getting tired. He looked up, there was one more stage and then he could see the end. There was a thick, blue ribbon, all he needed to do was run a few more metres and he would be done.

He made to run across but as soon as he stepped out, an ear-splitting screech rendered him to his knees. He covered his ears with his hands, tears streaming down his face. It hurt.

It hurt.

His eyes widened.

It really hurt.

No. No, it couldn't hurt. Otherwise…

No.

But it did hurt. It hurt so much. He bit his lip, the shriek was still going, tearing through his entire body and not letting him move. He didn't have time to think about whether this was a dream or not, he needed to do something. His wand was clasped in his hand, which he was pushing against his ears. He wasn't sure if casting a spell would work, but he had to try.

He looked up, he could just make out a black wisp floating to his right, he slowly pointed his wand at it, making sure to not lift his hand from his ear.

"Please work, please work," he muttered and squeezed his eye shut, " _Incendio._ "

A jet of fire burst from his wand, and just caught the cloak of the Banshee. It spread up and its scream intensified before petering out. Kenma struggled to his feet and as fast as he could ran to the end. He managed to stumble across the finish line before falling to his feet, tears streaming down his face and entire body trembling.

It was real. He could have died. It hadn't been a dream.

"It's okay, it's okay," he took a few deep breaths.

He could footsteps slowly making their way to him. He slowly pushed himself up, struggling before a hand was offered to him. He took it after a few moments of trying and failing to make his legs work.

"Congratulations Kozume, you did excellent."

He looked up and quickly took his hand away as the strange man smiled at him. He long silver hair, and his teeth were shockingly white. The man continued to smile as he pointed towards the champions tent.

"This way, Kozume and don't forget this."

He pressed something into Kenma's hands before letting Kenma past, who limped towards the champions tent, the cheering of the crowd around him pounding in his ear. He looked down at what the man had given him and frowned.

It was a tiny little sphinx, curled up and snoring in the palm of his hand.

  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kenma why u like this ╚(•⌂•)╝  
> and why am I like this?


	10. Something's Starting

"It was pretty amazing right?"

"I still can't believe they used a banshee, it could have killed them!"

"Is Alisa going to be okay?"

"That Beauxbatons kid actually managed to finish, his run was insane."

The Charms classroom was abuzz with talk of the previous day's trial. No one had been surprised when Ushijima had got the quickest time. But it was pretty surprising that the boy Beauxbatons had been a close second. Alisa hadn't managed to finish, and Yamaguchi couldn't blame her, the obstacle course had looked awful.

"I guess Hogwarts is in the lead now," Yachi said happily.

"Yeah," Yamaguchi nodded.

"Hinata was pretty happy with how Kozume did though," Yachi shook her head, "he was more excited over his run than our own champion."

"Was he?" Yamaguchi, twirled his wand between his fingers, distracted.

"Yamaguchi?" Yachi asked as he continued to stare at the board.

"Hey…" she gently touched his arm and he jumped a little.

"Oh, sorry," he shook his head to clear his thoughts.

"What's wrong?" She asked, a worried frown flitting across her face.

"Nothing, just thinking," he said and smiled at her.

"About what?"

He paused.

"What the second trial could be."

It was a lie, but he didn't really want to get into what he was actually thinking about.

"Right?" Yachi clapped her hands excitedly. "Hinata and me have been trying to guess, but it really could be anything."

"Yeah."

Yamaguchi's mind was already wandering. He just couldn't stop thinking about what had happened last week. That weird vision or hallucination thing he'd had. He didn't understand what had happened. And he couldn't stop thinking about it. It had come out of nowhere, and if he was in the muggle world it would probably be the sign of some kind of illness or mental breakdown.

When magic was involved, it became a bit more complicated. That was the problem however. Yamaguci's magic was weak at best, so what were the chances of that vision being magic over them just being some sort of hallucination or weirdly real daydream.

He wanted to forget about it. To just put it out of his mind, but he just couldn't forget it. The coloured robes, the flying horses and a bright moon glaring down at the shining castle jutting out of rock. He sighed. It didn't make any sense. Should he go to the nurse? But what would he say? I think I might have had this really weird hallucination? He sighed again. And there was always that worry.

Before his magic had appeared, he'd started to have hyper realistic dreams, none of them had happened whilst he was awake, but it was a little similar to now. What if this was a sign his magic was fading? If this was true, he might get kicked out. Either way, he had to lay low, he couldn't draw attention to himself. He didn't want to be known as Yamaguchi, the Boy's whose magic was only temporary, or the boy who can't even do magic, or the boy who gone and completely lost his mind because he couldn't even handle the smallest bit of magic.

"Cheer up!" Yachi said, bumping his shoulder. "Even if we don't manage to guess what the second trial is, we'll find out soon enough."

"What? Oh yeah. Yeah, I know," Yamaguchi forced a smile at her.

The bell rang. Yamaguchi and Yachi made their way out of the classroom and Yamaguchi caught sight of Tsukki leaning against the opposite wall.

"Tsukki!" He called out, waving goodbye to Yachi before running over. "Hello."

Tsukishima nodded in greeting and the two of them started to walk towards the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. They didn't say anything, Tsukki wasn't really a chatty person and Yamaguchi's mind was still very much occupied with thoughts of his sanity.

"Hey Yamaguchi!"

Yamaguchi turned around and raised a hand when he saw Hinata bounding over.

"Hey," he greeted the Gryffindor, "where's Kageyama?"

Hinata looked around and then back to Yamaguchi with a shrug, "Dunno. Why?"

"Just wondering,"

"Hey Tsukishima!" Hinata waved at Tsukki who smirked back.

"Hey Shrimpy."

Hinata stook out his tongue in response as the three of them made their way down the corridor.

"I can't wait for the next trial! It's so cool!" Hinata was jumping up and down in excitement.

Tsukki raised an eyebrow at him.

"Don't bang your head, I don't think you'll be able to function with anymore damage."

"Hey!" Hinata scowled but didn't answer instead turning to Yamaguchi and grabbing his arm.

"You're excited too ri–?"

Yamaguchi felt the world tip, spin and suddenly the corridor in front of him crumbling. He was frozen, he couldn't even move a finger. The corridor crumbled into nothingness and new scene built itself up around him. He was outside, the sun was shining with fluffy white coulds being chased around the blue of the sky. There was a huge tree in front of him, suddenly a puppy came running from behind him. He could hear a child's laughter and he tried to turn. But he still couldn't move. The golden puppy barked and ran around the tree before running back behind him.

Suddenly the tree began to wilt, black rot spreading across its trunk and withering its leaves. The puppy whined behind him and Yamaguchi's face slacked in horror as ghosts began to rise up from the tree, hundreds of them. They rose and they surrounded him and they began to spin, faster and faster and faster. He couldn't move, he couldn't run.

"Yamaguchi!" He could hear someone calling him.

"Yamaguchi!" And again, but he still couldn't move, he was suffocating, he couldn't breathe.

"Yamaguchi!"

A sharp slap across his face jerked him to his sense. He shot up and gasped, sucking air into his lungs. He made out Hinata 's worried face next to him as he slowly came to.

"What happened?" he asked, holding his throbbing head in his hand.

"I don't know," Hinata said, and swallowed, "you just suddenly fainted and you wouldn't wake up."

Yamaguchi looked around.

"Where's Tsukki?" he asked.

Hinata shrugged, "he ran off when you wouldn't wake up. He just said I should stay with you but I dunno where he's gone."

"Oh."

"Are you okay?" Hinata helped him up and Yamaguchi nodded.

"Yeah, I'm just…" he trailed off.

"Tired?" offered Hinata and he nodded again.

"Yeah."

It was true he hadn't been sleeping well, his sleep had been fitful and he'd been waking up in the middle of the night from dreams that immediately faded from his memory. Maybe that's what it was. He was just that sleep deprived.

"Yamaguchi! Hinata!"

Someone called out to them and the two turned around.

"Professor Ukai?" said Yamaguchi surprised and then even more surprised. "Tsukki?"

Tsukishima was standing slightly besides the Professor who was looking at Yamaguchi and Hinata with his arms crossed and a suspicious look on his face. He turned back to Tsukki.

"Noya and Tanaka didn't put you up to this did they?"

"Excuse me?"

"No you're right, " Ukai waved a hand before strolling over to the two of them.

Tsukki slowly followed, refusing to meet Yamaguchi's questioning eyes.

"You alright Yamaguchi?" asked Ukai, and pointed to Tsukki. "This guy came banging on the headmaster's door, demanding that we get down here and check on you."

Yamaguchi opened his mouth and closed it again.

"What?"

"Yeah he just suddenly-" Hinata started but Yamaguchi interupted him.

"I'm fine."

"Yamaguchi-" Tsukishima started but Yamaguchi shook his head stubbornly.

"I'm fine. Really."

"Huh. Is that so?" Ukai let out an exasperated sigh. "Okay. Just get to class you three."

Without another word, the three of them walked down the corridor. No one said anything. Yamaguchi bit his lip and looked at Tsukki out of the corner of his eye. He was scowling. Yamaguchi looked away. Tsukki had just been trying to help. Maybe he should have told the truth. He was still really shaken. Whatever he'd just seen, it had been terrifying.

"Yamaguchi, you sure you okay?" Hinata was looking at him.

"Yeah," he smiled at him, "It's fine."

Hinata seemed convinced, but Tsukki was still frowning. Hinata bounded ahead and pushed the door open for them.

"Let's go!" he said, already back to his usual cheerful self.

Tsukki let Yamaguchi go first and he nodded in thanks. Hinata immediately bounded over to where Kageyama was sitting.

"Hey Bakageyama!" he dumped his stuff down on the next and sat down.

Tsukki sat down at the back and after a second's hesitation, Yamaguchi sat down next to him.

"Thanks Tsukki," he said quietly, "but I'm fine."

"You're lying," Tsukishima said curtly, facing straight ahead.

Yamaguchi felt his nerves coil in his stomach. He didn't want to lie. But what would Tsukishima say if he said he thought he was losing his magic? Would he even want to be friends with some sort of squib?

"I'm really fine. I was just really tired."

"You haven't been sleeping well?" Tsukishima flicked open his textbook.

Yamaguchi shook his head.

"Bad dreams?"

"I guess," Yamaguchi shrugged, "I can't really remember."

"What?" Tsukishima frowned.

Yamaguchi quickly shook his head, "Nothing. Never mind."

Tsukishima looked like he wanted to say something but the teacher started talking so he turned back to the front.

 

______________________________________________________________

 

Yachi knew better than trying to start a discussion about Ushijima with Goshiki. Sasaki on the other hand, did not. She sat down next to the two them, still bursting with excitement over the events of the yesterday.

"Wasn't yesterday awesome?" she said, dumping her bag down next to Goshiki. "Ushijima was amazing."

Yachi immediately tried to warn her but it was too late. Goshiki immediately perked up.

"We're so lucky we have him as our champion," said Sasaki, grinning at Goshiki. "Aren't we?"

"I'm going to become even better than him!" Goshiki clenched a fist and Sasaki gaped at him.

"Next time the Tournament comes around, I'm gonna be the champion."

"You won't be at Hogwarts anymore," said Yachi and he wilted before clenching a fist again.

"I'm still gonna be better than him! Quidditch is coming up and I'm-"

"Goshiki sit down please."

Professor Akaizawa came in and sighed. Yachi and the rest of the class giggled as Goshiki slowly sat down, his face red. Sasaki looked at Yachi with a apologetic look on her face and Yachi shook her head with a laugh.

"Alright everyone. You all appear to be excited so we'll just work out of the textbook today. Page 32 please."

There was a bustle as everyone pulled out their textbooks. Yachi flicked through the pages and then looked at Goshiki who was frowning at his textbook.

"I don't get this at all," he mumbled and before looking up, his eyes meeting Yachi's.

Her cheeks turning red at having been caught, she quickly looked away. She turned back to her textbook and began to copy out runes and their meanings onto a piece of parchment. The minutes ticked away, mumbles and whispers getting louder as time passed and people got more and more bored.

Yachi yawned and stretched. A good forty-five minutes had passed since class had started, and writing down runes and their translations was becoming just a little too boring to bear. She looked up and immediately let out a scream. The entire classroom jumped as Yachi scrambled out of her chair pointing at her desk.

"Spider! Spider! There's a spider!" she screamed.

"Eeeek!" Sasaki immediately followed her as several spiders crawled across their desk.

"Uhhhh..." Goshiki stood up and stumbled backwards, a scared look on his face.

"Children please," Professor Akaizawa sighed, walking over to the desk.

The colour drained from his face when he caught sight of the line of spiders, at least twenty of them making their way across the desk and out of the window.

"Okay, right, I see..." his voice was slightly higher pitched than usual.

He swallowed nervously as Yachi edged further away from her desk.

"What do we do sir?" Sasaki asked, swallowing as the stream of spiders didn't seem to be slowing.

"Sir?" said Yachi nervously, edging back even further.

"What? I mean, yes, well," he turned around to look at the class before looking back at the spiders again. "I think we may as well finish class now don't you?"

"Yeah!"

A cheer went round the classroom, as well as multiple signs of relief.

"Very well," Professor Akaizawa nodded at them all, "you're dismissed. Have a nice rest of the day."

Yachi grimaced as she edged back to her desk to grab her stuff.

"Here," Goshiki unceremoniously shoved her books and quills into her bag and chucked at her face.

Yachi caught and looked at him with wide eyes.

"Thank you," she said, discreetly slipping a hand into it and reorganising it so nothing would get crumpled.

Goshiki's face went a little red before Sasaki yelled over.

"Could you grab mine for me too? Please?"

Goshiki's face turned even redder and he did the same thing for her, as she smiled happily.

"Thanks so much...Goshiki right?"

"Um, yeah..." he mumbled and Sasaki looked a little surprised at his sudden timidness.

"Well, I'll see you guys later," Sasaki raised a hand and then walked off.

"Oh my god," Yachi sighed, "that was scary."

The stream of spiders had finally begun to slow. Goshiki grabbed his own bag and looked at the desks.

"Gross," he said, "I hate spiders."

"Yeah," Yachi nodded with a shiver.

"Go on now, off you go, I'll get someone to deal with this," Professor Akaizawa swept by with Yachi and Goshiki quickly following him.

Goshiki immediately went right and Yachi couldn't help but feel a little offended. It wasn't like Goshiki and her were friends, but he could've said goodbye or something.

"Oh. Hello."

She turned around and smiled when she saw who it was.

"Oh, Yaku, hello."

"How have you been?"

"Good," Yacchi nodded at him, "how about you?"

"Not bad," Yaku seemed a little distracted, his eyes darting around like he was looking for something.

"Is something wrong?"

"Oh no. Just...never mind.”

Yachi didn’t really want to pry and so scourged her mind to think of something to talk about as Yaku continued trying (and failing) to discreetly look around the corridor.

“What did you think of the trial yesterday?” Yachi asked, curious as to what people outside of her friend group thought of it.

Yaku paused before answering and small frown flickered across his face.

“It was something else,” he said slowly and then sighed. “I’m glad Alisa wasn’t too badly hurt.”

“Oh yeah,” Yachi nodded in agreement, “that was pretty bad. Ushijima and Kozume both did well though.”

Yaku’s frown was replaced with a small smile.

“Yes. I bet someone was rather happy about that.”

“Hm?”

“Oh nothing,” Yaku smiled at Yachi as they reached the end of the corridor, “well, I’ll see you later.”

“Bye,” still a little confused Yachi waved goodbye.

 

 ______________________________________________________________

 

 

“Yo shnow it ishnsh alsways shom short of crissle,” Hinata sprayed breadcrumbs all around the owlery, much to the delight of the owls that were there, who all hooted and scrambled to peck the bits off the floor.

“What?” Kenma raised an eyebrow, obviously having understood absolutely nothing of what Hinata had just said.

With considerable effort, Hinata swallowed the renmants of sandwich and then bounded over to Kenma.

“It’s always a riddle!” he said loudly and Kenma blinked.

“Is it?”

  
“Yeah!” Hinata said enthusiastically, “the riddle always leads to the next piece of the puzzle. It’s gotta to have something to do with the next trial.”

Kenma raised an eyebrow again and Hinata looked at him in confusion. Why did he look so unimpressed? He’d just made a breaking discovery. The riddle Kenma had got at the end of the first trial was a clue for the second. He was a genius.

“I know,” said Kenma slowly, turning back to stare at the tiny sphinx that was prowling the windowsill, “it’s pretty obvious.”

“Yeah!” Hinata let out a cheer. “It’s–wait what?!”

Kenma let out a sigh but didn’t answer. Hinata narrowed his eyes, was Kenma suggesting what had taken him hours to figure had taken everyone else just a few seconds? He pouted for a bit, he’d thought he’d made a majorly helpful breakthrough. Well, Kenma was a lot smarter than him. So maybe it was only natural he’d figured it out first. That didn’t take away from the fact, that he _had_ figured it out as well. Kageyama probably would never have been able to figure it out. Cheered up by that thought, Hinata crouched down by the window and stared intently at the sphinx.

“What was the riddle again?”

The sphinx turned its tiny head to look at him. It opened its mouth. And yawned. Hinata gaped.

“Did it...just…it did…didn’t it?!”

Kenma looked like he was trying very hard not to laugh as he held out a hand for the sphinx to hop up on.

“It only answers me,” he said and Hinata’s eyes widened.

“Wow! That’s so cool! It’s like you’re connected!”

Kenma rolled his eyes as the sphinx ran up his arm and curled up on his shoulder. Hinata watched it expectedly, and when nothing happened he looked at Kenma. The latter stared back at him blankly.

“What?”

“The riddle!” said Hinata loudly, jumping up. “We have to try and solve it.”

“Yeah.”

“Once you know it, you can do super awesome on the second task!”

“I guess,” Kenma suddenly sat down on the floor and leant his back against the wall of the owlery.

Hinata was suddenly struck by how tired Kenma looked. There was massive bags around his eyes, and his eyelids kept drooping.

“You alright Kenma?”

“What?” Kenma looked up and Hinata quickly went to sit down next to him. “Oh. I’m fine.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. Just tired.”

“Didn’t get much sleep?” Hinata and when Kenma nodded he copied the motion. “I know what you mean. Before Quidditch I always get super excited! And then I can never sleep!”

Kenma didn’t say anything as Hinata buzzed with excitement merely at the thought of a Quidditch match.

“I hope we get to play soon,” he sighed.

Kenma still didn’t say anything. Hinata let out another sigh as he daydreamed about flying through the air, throwing the Quaffle through the hoops, again, and again, and again. He smiled to himself. Kenma shifted besides him, and the sounds his nails scratching against the moss that was growing across the stones of the floor.

“Right!” he clapped his hands. “What’s the riddle again?”

Kenma looked up, gathered his thoughts and then recited:

 

_“In in this place, you will find,_

_If you’re able to use your mind_

_The answer to the question asked_

_So that this one trial is passed_

_The one that wanders but has no legs_

_The one that is born of another’s eggs_

_Fellow his path that will lead you to_

_Where you already have your clue”_

 

Hinata stared at him with wide eyes and then squealed.

“Oh my god Kenma, how do you even remember that? So cool!”

A little smile made its way to Kenma’s face and Hinata beamed at him.

“Let’s think about it,” Hinata brought a hand to his chin and he frowned. “If you’re able to use your mind? The answer to the question? What question? No legs? Already have your clue?”

He turned to look at Kenma, “what does that mean?”

Kenma looked at him, “Shouyou. I don’t think doing this really suits you.”

“Huh?” Hinata blinked. “Doing what?”

Kenma paused and then said bluntly, “Thinking.”

“What?”

“You might hurt yourself,” Kenma said softly, his face impassive but Hinata was pretty sure he was resisting a smile.

“Hey Kenma!” Hinata immediately whinged. “I’m not that bad am I?”

Kenma didn’t answer and Hinata pushed his shoulder.

“Kenma!”

Kenma smiled a little but didn’t answer and Hinata smiled cheerfully back, just happy Kenma looked at least a little better.

“Do you have any ideas?” asked Hinata curiously and Kenma paused.

“A few.”

“Really?! What?!” HInata leaned forward and Kenma looked at him uncertainly.

“I’m still not sure though…”

“It’s okay!” Hinata grinned at him. “You’ll figure it out!

“Thanks,” Kenma said quietly.

“Oh Kenma,” Hinata suddenly remembered something and Kenma looked at him questioningly, “do you know how to get super happy memories?”

“Happy memories?” Kenma repeated slowly and Hinata nodded.

“Like super-duper happy ones! Ones that could,” he paused, “maybe kinda summon a really seriously big patronus…”

“Ah,” Kenma made a small noise of understanding and Hinata looked at him.

“You know about the patronus charm?”

“Only an idiot wouldn’t.”

“Oh right. Wait a minute–"

“So you need a happy memory?” Kenma interrupted him and Hinata was effectively distracted.

“Yeah! I need an awesome one so my patronus can go swoosh and smash past Kageyama!” Hinata made a fist in victory.

Kenma didn’t say anything, and just stared at him blankly.

“Can you cast one?” asked Hinata.

Kenma nodded.

“Really?!” Hinata leaned in closer like he always did when he got excited. “How? What do you think about?”

Kenma hesitated.

“I guess when I was young–“

“Hey!!”

Hinata and Kenma both jumped as they were interrupted by the very loud, very enthusiastic arrival of a tower of legs and arms. The owls immediately flew up into the air in flurry of panic, landing on their stands up high.

“Hey guys!” Lev ran over and Hinata immediately jumped up.

“Lev! What are you doing here?”

Lev grinned at him, “I thought we could do some Quidditch training.”

“I thought you had tutoring,” said Hinata.

Lev let out a laugh, “I don’t need one today.”

“Really?” Kenma couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow and the word slipped out of his mouth.

Seemingly only just noticing the small boy, Lev crouched down and stared at his face. His eyes’ widened in recognition and he pointed a finger at Kenma’s face.

“The champion!” he yelled and Kenma winced.

“Please don’t yell in my face,” he said, standing up.

Lev followed him up and enthusiastically dipped his head in an introductory bow.

“I’m Lev Haiba!”

“Kozume Kenma,” said Kenma, monotone.

“So you’re my sister’s competition,” Lev gave him an one-over, “Well. You’ll do okay I guess.”

Kenma merely shrugged but Hinata let out a squawk of indignation.

“He did great! He’s gonna win!”

Lev shook his head dismissively, “no way.”

He turned back to Kenma, smiled a smile completely and utterly free of any malice or cruelty and said “You can do your best though.”

“Thanks,” said Kenma shortly, and Hinata could see an annoyed frown on his face.

Lev, on the other hand, wasn’t any the wiser.

“So what were you guys talking about?”

“Casting a patronus,” Hinata answered.

“Oh that’s awesome!” Lev said. “I’ve never cast one.”

“What would you think of?”

Lev paused and then said confidently, “Quidditch. Or being with my family in Russia.”

“Huh. Yamaguchi said it should be something really special though.”

Lev looked offended, “Quidditch _is_ special.”

“Quidditch is super awesome,” Hinata agreed.

“But for your patronus it had be not just a happy memory,” said Kenma, “it has to be one you treasure.”

“One I treasure…” Hinata.

“What’s the difference?” asked Lev.

Kenma didn’t bother to answer, instead shrugging before pushing himself off the wall of the owlery and standing up.

“You figure it out,” he said, when Lev continued to stare at him.

“A treasured memory, not just a happy one,” Hinata pondered. “I think I get it.”

“You do?” Lev looked at him and just as Hinata opened his mouth, the bell echoed across Hogwarts and the owls above hooted and flew up, ruffling their feathers violently.

“Woah!” Hinata brushed a few feathers out of his hair.

“We better go,” said Kenma quietly. “See you later Shouyou.”

“See ya Kenma, bye Lev!”

“Later!”

Hinata followed Kenma out before they went their separate ways, the former still wondering what his most treasured memory was.

 

______________________________________________________________

 

 

“Look, Shittykawa can you concentrate?”

“But Iwa-chan this is important!”

“Important my ass.” Iwaizumi grumbled, flicking a page in his textbook as he tried to identify the creatures that Professor Mori had magically drawn on the board at the front.

“Are you still listening?”

Sometimes Iwaizumi wondered why Oikawa was even taking Care of Magical Creatures. He didn’t particularly care for it, he definitely didn’t pay attention.

“Yeah, I’m listening,” he lied scribbling down Wampus cat for the feline creatures that prowling around on the bottom of the blackboard.

A few moments of peace passed, before Oikawa was back to pocking his arm,

“You weren’t listening Iwa-chan,” Oikawa accused him.

“Yeah I was.”

“What was I talking about then?” Oikawa crossed his arms and Iwaizumi paused.

In times like these, you just had to jump in head first.

“Your dream,” Iwaizumi said.

“Yes. And?”

“I don’t know,” Iwaizumi glared at him, “were you eaten by a giant marshmallow man?”

“Of course not,” Oikawa looked offended.

“That’s too bad,” Iwaizumi turned back to the front as Oikawa tutted.

“Iwa-chan, come on.”

“Fine,” Iwaizumi knew Oikawa was just going to keep bothering him, might as well get it over with as soon as possible.

“It was night-time and a full moon. I lying in bed, and the curtains were open–“

“Hey hey hey! Wait a minute!” Iwaizumi glared at Oikawa. “I don’t wanna hear about another one of your weird sex dreams Trashykawa! I said never agai–“

“Iwa-chan! It was one time! And this isn’t one,” Oikawa smirked at him. “Not disappointed are you?”

Iwaizumi wacked his head and Oikawa chuckled.

“Sorry Iwa-chan. Can I talk now?”

“Will you listen if I say no?”

“There was a full-moon and I could just see out of my window. And then there was this massive wolf.”

“Of course, there was.”

“And it ran across the sky and swallowed the moon whole.”

“Wow,” Iwaizumi deadpanned, before scribbling down another magical beast’s name.  

“I wonder what it means…”

“Nothing,” Iwaizumi waved his quill dismissively. “You just have an overactive imagination.”

“Makes up for your total lack of one don’t you think Iwa-chan?”

“Shut up.”

They, or at least Iwaizumi, continued to work through the list, until all the beasts had been labelled.

“You’re good at this Iwa-chan,” Oikawa observed.

Iwaizumi wasn’t really used to praise, especially not from his best friend and he felt his ears turning slightly red as he snorted.

“Someone has to pick up your slack.”

“I wouldn’t have anyone else,” said Oikawa singingly, twirling his wand between his fingers with a teasing smile.

“Shut up,” Iwaizumi grumbled, “you shouldn’t be proud of that.”

 “Can I tell you about my dream now?” Oikawa ignored him and Iwaizumi rolled his eyes.

_What have you been doing for the past twenty minutes?_

“Whatever.”

“Well, like I said I was in bed. And then I heard this weird noise, so I went outside, and there was a wolf running into the sky. It was a full moon,” Oikawa paused dramatically. “And the wolf ran right up to it and swallowed it! And there was this mouse too just scurrying about under my window, being really loud and annoying. Then I woke up.”

“You said that already,” Iwaizumi said.

“Yes, but not that last bit.”

“Yeah so?”

“Well, what do you think Iwa-chan?”

“Why the fuck would I have changed my mind? It’s a dream Shittykawa. It doesn’t mean shit.”

“Language at the back!” Professor Mori called out and Iwaizumi turned red as everyone in the class looked back at the two of them.

Oikawa giggled and Iwaizumi stepped on his foot, smirking in satisfaction as Oikawa's grin slipped of in favour of a pout.

“From everyone's chatting, am I right to assume you all have finished?”

There were mumbles of yes and nods across the class as Professor Mori stood up walked over to the board.

“Excellent,” he said and picked up a piece chalk before turning back to face the class. “Would anyone like to volunteer to come up and label them?”

No one obliged him and he smiled kindly at the class.

“Come on. No shame in getting some wrong either.”

Still no one, Iwaizumi yawned lazily with Oikawa doodling on his textbook (why couldn’t he just do it on his own?) next to him.

“Alright. I’m just going to have pick people then…” Professor Mori waited and still no one  put their hand up.

He cast his eyes around the classroom and Iwaizumi watched as they landed on the very obviously not paying attention Oikawa.

“Oika-”

“I’ll do it sir,” Iwaizumi put a hand up and Professor Mori immediately smiled brightly at him as Oikawa looked up at him in surprise.

“Iwaizumi! That’s great, I wouldn’t expect anything less from a vice-captain. Come on up!”

There were some giggles at Professor Mori’s obvious relief at someone finally volunteering.

“Go for it Iwa-chan~”

Iwaizumi ignored him and strolled up to the front, taking the chalk from the professor and quickly labelled all of them without a second thought. He turned back around to the class staring at him, eyes wide. He raised an eyebrow and handed the chalk back to a frozen Professor Mori.

“Very impressive,” said Oikawa with a wink as Iwaizumi sat back down.

“Very good. You’ve got them all. Very well done, Iwaizumi. Okay everyone, seeing as we’ve only got fifteen minutes left it’s free study for the rest of the lesson. Iwaizumi if wouldn’t mind coming to the front?”

Iwaizumi looked up in confusion and then got up and made his way up, as the class busied themselves more with gossip than actual work.

“You’re doing very well Iwaizumi. A lot better than your partner,” Professor Mori eyed Oikawa who very obviously eavesdropping. “So I thought you might be interested…”

He opened a drawer and pulled out a leaflet, sliding it across the desk to Iwaizumi. The latter leant down and picked it up. The words ‘ ** _Field Trip: See the American Magic System – MACUSA_** ’ were sprawled across it shimmering gold. Iwaizumi looked up at Professor Mori.

“I didn’t know Care had a field trip.”

Professor Mori sighed, “it doesn’t. But History of Magic does, probably because they need students to be awake for at least some of the course.”

He seemed to realise what he’d just said and quickly changed the subject.

“But anyways. They have a few free spots, and I was wondering if perhaps you wanted to go.”

“You’re serious?” Iwaizumi looked at him and Professor Mori smiled at him.

“Of course I am.  There’s a few spots, and I’d like to offer one to you. As for the rest it’ll be decided from the coming test results. But I’m not going to tell anyone,” Professor Mori looked proud of himself and then leaned forwards. “Let’s keep this between us for now Iwaizumi. I don’t want the other students to feel like it’s unfair that you already have an offer. Even if you are the only one in this class currently sitting on an O for this subject.”

“Thanks sir,” Iwaizumi slipped the pamphlet into his robe pocket and Professor Mori nodded at him with a smile.

“Think about it and get back to me then.”

Iwaizumi walked back to his desk and sat down, Oikawa immediately pouncing on him.

“What did he say?”

Iwaizumi looked at Oikawa.

“Do you want to go on a trip?” he asked.

Oikawa stared at him.

“Are you okay Iwa-chan? Did he do something to your brain?!”

“I’m fine idiot. Just answer the question.”

“Sure,” Oikawa said with a shrug as he twirled his quill around in his fingers. “It’d be fun.”

“Then I’ll help you study for the next test.”

“What’s that got to do with anything?” Oikawa looked scandalized.

“Nothing.”

“Iwa-chan! You’re not making any sense!”

Iwaizumi laughed as Oikawa pouted. Iwaizumi lifted his arm and then froze, his hand suspended awkwardly in between his and Oikawa’s chests. Oikawa stared at it and then looked at Iwaizumi suspiciously.

“Are you going to hit me?”

“No.” Iwaizumi face turned red as he quickly put his hand down on the table.

Oikawa laughed at him.

“You’re so weird Iwa-chan.”

Iwaizumi didn’t answer, his hand tingling.

What did he think he was going to do?

 

 ______________________________________________________________

 

Yaku pulled his earmuffs off and waved to Moniwa that he could do the same. The latter mimicked him and then smiled.

“Finally.”

“Yaku, you guys are finished?” Sugawara asked and Yaku nodded.

“Took us long enough.”

“Sorry,” Moniwa looked bashful and Yaku quickly patted his shoulder.

“It’s not your fault. Our mandrake just happened to be a little more enthusiastic than the rest.”

“Enthusiastic’s an understatement…” Asashi looked at the now potted plant. “What was up with it?”

Yaku shrugged, “it was probably drugged up on fertiliser or something.”

Moniwa sighed.

“Only at Hogwarts,” he mumbled and chucked his earmuffs into the basket.

Yaku laughed and nodded.

“You’ve got that right.”

“Okay. It looks like everyone’s finished. Go back to your desks and fill in your worksheets.” Professor Yachi picked up Yaku and Moniwa’s pot and put it on a shelf with the rest of the mandrakes. “Well done boys, I think this one got a bit too much sun.”

“Thanks Professor,” Yaku grinned and made his way back to his desk.

Moniwa followed soon afterwards and picked up the worksheet, frowning as he scanned through the questions.

“You sure she’s given us the right one? This seems more 4th year than seventh.”

Yaku glanced at it and shrugged, “she did say the first few weeks we would just be reviewing the basics for our exam.”

“Nice and easy,” Asahi sat down, leaving a chair in between him and Moniwa, with Sugawara sitting there just a second later.

“It’s also nice to think a bit though,” Sugawara said with a small smile.

“Huh? I mean...I guess?” Asahi looked a little confused but Sugawara didn’t say anything more.

They worked in silence for a bit, but like Moniwa had said, it was easy work for seventh years. Yaku finished in less than ten minutes, and the rest of them were done soon after. Yaku stretched out his arms and yawned.

“Tired?” asked Moniwa and he nodded. “You’ve been tutoring that Dumstrang kid a lot lately haven’t you?”

Yaku nodded and then paused. He actually hadn’t seen Lev since yesterday. He’d meant to go check on him, and make sure the silencing charm had actually worn off, after talking to Alisa, but he hadn’t been able to find him.

“Lev isn’t it? I’ve heard his magic is pretty special.” Sugawara asked with a little smile and Yaku could only chuckle and nod.

“You could say that.”

“I think you’d be pretty good at tutoring Suga,” said Asahi. “Have you ever wanted to try?”

Yaku looked at Sugawara and was just enough to catch his mouth turn slightly downwards before quickly lifting upwards into a slightly strained smile.

“No. I don’t think it’s for me.”

“Really? I think you’d be good at it,” Moniwa said, absent-mindly scribbling on his worksheet with his quill.

“Yeah,” Asahi nodded.

Yaku looked at Sugawara again, who’s smile had completely faded and now just looked inexplicably sad. He opened his mouth and then closed it again, whatever it was that was bothering the Slyhterin, with an expression like that, Yaku didn’t think he’d want to talk about.

“How’s Futakuchi?” he asked Moniwa.

“Huh?” Moniwa looked surprised at the sudden question but shrugged and answered it anyways. “He’s good I think? We’re not really speaking anymore…Why?”

Sugawara caught Yaku’s eyes and there was a tiny nod of gratitude.

“Weren’t you tutoring him with Quidditch?”

“Ah,” Moniwa made a noise of understanding and nodded. “Yeah. He asked me to last year. We did some stuff over the holidays. He doesn’t really need any help though.”

“He is very good player,” Sugawara agreed and then smiled, “maybe because of your help?”

Moniwa’s face turned red, “he was already good…”

Yaku smirked.

“Which begs the question: why bother asking for help?”

“It does indeed,” Sugawara smiled back and Moniwa looked back and forth, sandwiched between the two of them.

“What?” he looked slightly panicked, his face turning even redder. “What are you guys trying to say?”

“Nothing, nothing,” Sugawara said. “I’ve only been here a few weeks. What do I know?”

“We’re not trying to say anything at all,” Yaku agreed.

Moniwa looked at the two of them suspiciously and Yaku tried not to laugh as Sugawara innocently twirled his wand in his fingers. Moniwa looked back to Yaku who couldn’t help but chuckle at his red face.

“Guys!” he said. “It’s not like that! It's...” he trailed off, an uncertain expression on his face. "I don't know."

“Did you go to his house?” Sugawara asked.

“How did you know-?”

“Meet his parents?” Yaku said.

“Yes but-“

“You went to Futakuchi’s house?” Asahi peered over Sugawara at Moniwa in complete shock. “Futakuchi from Slytherin?”

“There’s only one,” Yaku rolled his eyes.

“What?!” Asahi stared at Moniwa and then lowered his voice. “But isn’t his family…you know…kind of…purist?”

Yaku froze and looked at Asahi, seeing Sugawara’s smile immediately drop from his face. Yaku didn’t know much about Futakuchi, the most he knew was that he played Quidditch and occasionally would hang out with Moniwa. And that he was a pureblood. But he never seemed to have any prejudice.

“Are you sure?” he asked and Asahi nodded.

“Pretty sure. They’re one of the last few Japanese Pureblood families.”

“Yeah,” Moniwa nodded and rubbed his eyes.

“And you met them?” Yaku looked at him, immediately starting to feel extremely concerned. “They didn’t do anything to you did they? Or say anything?”

Moniwa smiled at Yaku, “no, I’m pretty sure Futakuchi didn’t tell them.”

“Why did you go?” asked Sugawara quietly. “You don’t agree do you?”

“What?!” Moniwa immediately turned to Sugawara angrily. “How could you think that? You think I’d hate my own father just because he’s a muggle? Or my mother for falling in love with him?”

“No that’s not what I-”

“Moniwa wouldn’t have known,” Yaku said.

“I didn’t. And I only met his father,” Moniwa looked at Sugawara. “He wasn’t that concerned with me being a halfblood though.”

“What?” Yaku was confused.

“Futakuchi did warn me not to mention so maybe he just didn’t know. But pureblood families are so small nowadays, I’m pretty sure he could tell. But no…he kept going on about how terrible Sylvester Liev is.”

“Sylvester Liev?” Yaku was surprised. “You mean the judge?”

Sugawara looked away, his wand clenched tightly into his fingers as Moniwa nodded. Yaku looked over at Sugawara.

“Sugawara, you okay?”

“Yeah…just a bit of a headache.”

“I thought people loved that guy?” Asahi asked and Sugawara shifted on his seat.

Yaku eyed him and nodded, “yeah, I thought so too.”

“Not everyone,” said Sugawara quietly.

“Futakuchi’s father hates him. Something about the werewolf laws he put in.”

“Why-?” Yaku started to ask and then cut himself with a disgusted. “Of course.”

Sugawara looked at him, an unreadable expression on his face.

“What is it?”

Yaku sighed and shook his head, “it’s disgusting. Werewolf hunting. It’s outlawed now obviously but people still do it.”

“Werewolves, vampires, centaurs…Liev put in rules to protect all of them-” Moniwa started to explain.

There was a clatter and something sparked.

“Aah!” Sugawara let out a small cry of pain.

“Ouch!” Moniwa winced.

“What happened?!” Yaku looked at the two of them.

“Sorry, I’m so sorry! I dropped my wand…I’m so sorry,” Sugawara ducked under the table to pick up his wand and then winced as he banged his head on the table on the way back up.

“Suga are you okay?” Asahi gave him a hand to help him up.

“Thanks, I’m fine. Moniwa I’m really sorry.”

The Hufflepuff waved his slightly singed fingers, from the sparks that had jumped out of Sugawara’s wand when it had hit the floor with a reassuring smile, “it’s not your fault.”

“You guys alright over there?”

“Yes Professor, all good!” Yaku called out and Professor Yachi nodded.

“Okay, keep going then.”

“Sorry,” Sugawara repeated.

“It’s okay.” Moniwa patted his soldier.

“Don’t worry about It Suga,” Asahi smiled at him.

Yaku rolled his eyes, “Honestly it’s fine, it was just an accident.”

“Yeah,” Sugawara slipped his wand into robes and sighed, obviously forcing a smile. “So, what were we talking about?”

“Futakuchi’s father,” Moniwa said.

“Maybe we should move on,” Yaku suggested.

Moniwa nodded quickly, “no complaints from me.”

“So you and Futakuchi aren’t talking?” Yaku quickly remembered something Moniwa had mentioned before.

“Well, I haven’t really seen him since I guess. I don’t really know what to say.”

“Yeah.”

Yaku couldn’t help but agree. What could you say in a situation like that? Sorry but I think your father is a total asshole. Not exactly great for preserving friendships.

“Alright everyone, if you haven’t finished, that’s homework.”

“Finally,” Sugawara muttered and began to pack up.

“See you guys later!”

“Bye!”

They all packed up, waving each other off and Yaku quickly ran after Sugawara.

“Hey Sugawara!” he tapped the Slytherin boy’s shoulder. “You okay?”

“What do you mean?”

Yaku shrugged, “you just a little…I dunno, jumpy?”

Sugawara smiled, “I’m okay, and just Suga is fine.”

“Well, if you’re sure,” Yaku wasn’t certain, but he didn’t really want to push so he let Suga wander off to his next class.

He turned around, a little bit worried, but then again Suga seemed like he would be able to take care of himself. He started to walk when an unmistakable figure suddenly appeared in front of him. Yaku immediately accelerated.

“Oi Lev!” he called out and the tall boy turned around.

He opened his mouth and then shut it again as Yaku jogged up to him. He looked up at him up and down with a raised eyebrow.

“You going to say anything?”

“I’m ignoring you,” said Lev, crossing his shoulders.

“Really?” Yaku’s eyebrow crawled even high.

“Just like you ignored me yesterday,” Lev nodded smugly.

Yaku didn’t know what to say. Was he really that dumb? He sighed, just don’t say anything.

“Are you going to stop ignoring me now?”

“I dunno…I haven’t seen you all morning so I haven’t been able to-” Lev stopped talking and stared down at Yaku. “Aaaaah! I’m not supposed to be talking to you!”

“Are you a child?”

“I’m not the one who still below average heiOW!”

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

Lev rubbed his side, “that hurt.”

“Good.”

Lev looked at Yaku, “where did you go?”

Yaku sighed, “look I’m sorry okay? I shouldn’t have lost my temper. I did try to find you afterwards, but you disappeared. Although the charm’s worn off so I shouldn’t have worried.”

“You were worried?”

Yaku stared at Lev like he was stupid, which effectively meant he just looked at him the way he usually did, “of course! Your magic is so terrible who knows what a backfiring charm could’ve done to you long-term!”

Lev started to laugh, “I guess it could’ve been pretty bad.”

Yaku exhaled, “Oh boy.”

“So when’s the next session?”

“Hm?”

“You’re still tutoring me right?”

“Oh yeah.”

God knows what would happen if he let Lev and his magic run free in their current state. He’d probably never see him, and the entire Gryffindor house again.

“Alright, when?”

Yaku paused for a second then shrugged.

“Now.”

“Now?! But I still need to recover from yesterday and-”

“Let’s go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As usual, super late -_-'


	11. Special Chapter: 1 Year Ago

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flashback~

Moniwa watched as Futakuchi flew around above him. He was really good. They’d played against each other a few times before, but when in the game you never really had time to concentrate on specifics. He couldn’t think why the younger boy would ask for help. And from him no less. Moniwa knew he was nowhere near the best player at Hogwarts, or even in Hufflepuff. In fact, he wouldn’t be surprised if he wasn’t even a regular next year. But he guessed he was maybe the least intimidating. He frowned slightly, not that he could imagine Futakuchi ever being intimidated by anyone. 

There was a thump and he started.

“Were you paying attention?”

“Um, yeah...” Moniwa bit his lip as Futakuchi, now having landed, walked over. “But it doesn’t really look like you need that much help?”

Futakuchi raised an eyebrow, “what are you asking?”

“Um, I guess, what do you think you need help in?” Moniwa’s face turned red as he stuttered slightly. 

“I am good,” Futakuchi agreed and Moniwa blinked. 

Alright then.

“But you’re on a team.” 

Futakuchi stared at him and Moniwa swallowed nervously. 

“Y-yeah I am…”

“So, you tell me.”

Moniwa stared back at him. He had no idea what to say. Futakuchi was a good player, that was true. But there were also some other seriously good players in Slytherin. The Captain and Vice-Captain by themselves were probably good enough to go pro, not to mention Aone who was one of the best Keepers Moniwa had ever seen.

“I guess…your speed and actual flying are good...so maybe your technique? And if you haven’t made the team yet, your game sense?”

“Are you asking me or telling me?”

  
“Oh sorry…Telling you?” Moniwa asked uncertainly and Futakuchi raised an eyebrow.

“You’re doing it again.”

“Sorry.”

  
“If I didn’t know, I would never believe you’re a year older than me.” 

“Huh?” 

Once again Moniwa didn’t know what to say. What were you supposed to that? He’d already said ‘sorry’ twice. What’s a third time?

“Sorry?” he said, in a hesitant tone and Futakuchi rolled his eyes. 

“Why do you keep apologising?”

  
“I’m not really sure what else to say…” muttered Moniwa, shifting his broom to his other hand awkwardly. 

Futakuchi looked at him.

“Are you hungry?” he asked suddenly.

“What?”

  
“Are you hungry?” he repeated and Moniwa shrugged. 

“Um, I guess.”

He was actually more cold than hungry, but he and Futakuchi definitely were not close enough for him to start whinging about how he’d much rather be curled up next to a fire with hot chocolate than being a good student and helping someone asking for help. 

“Let’s get something to eat.”

  
“Didn’t you want to practice?” Moniwa asked, feeling like he should at least try to help him - he didn’t want to feel completely useless. 

“I won’t be able to concentrate if I’m hungry.”

  
“I guess you’re right…”

“I am.”

Moniwa almost laughed, his lips quirking up slightly. There was something undeniably attractive about Futakuchi’s confidence. Maybe because it was something Moniwa wished he had more of. 

“I’ll take your broom back,” Futakuchi held out his hand.

“I can do it,” Moniwa made to follow him but as soon as he got next to him Futakuchi reached out and quickly snatched his broom from him. 

Moniwa was too surprised to hang on to it and just watched as Futakuchi brought both of their brooms to the broom shed and swaggered back with a smirk. Moniwa quickly averted his eyes.

“Um, thanks,” Moniwa said Futakuchi shrugged. 

“Anytime.”

  
“Uh…Great.”

  
Moniwa shoved his hands into his pockets and shifted awkwardly. God, this was awful. He really wished he could carry conversations.

Futakuchi motioned back to the castle with his head, “shall we?”

“Oh ye-yeah…let’s um go back.”

Moniwa felt his entire face, once again, turn bright red. He was so dumb. Why couldn’t he just think of things to say?

“You coming?”

  
He looked up to find Futakuchi already some way ahead of him. He ran after the Slytherin, slowing down when he reached him. They walked in silence, the chilly winter air turning the tip of their ears and noses pink and their breath curling into the air in front of them.  The awkwardness was beginning to fade, even if no one was saying anything. Moniwa was feeling less and less uncomfortable and was starting to enjoy himself. He was still a little cold, but walking was warming him up. 

“You didn’t want to go to Hogsmeade?” Futakuchi asked and Moniwa shook his head.

“Not this weekend.”

  
“Why not?”

  
Moniwa shrugged, “believe it or not, watching Kamasaki eat his way through Honeydukes gets old after a couple hundred times.”

Futakuchi snorted, “yeah, I can believe that.”

  
Moniwa smiled to himself. He wasn’t really sure how to the two of them had met, but Kamasaki and Futakuchi did not get along. Whenever they were together, they were always arguing. Or more like Kamasaki yelling whilst Futakuchi egged him on.

“Oi Moniwa!”

  
He looked up, and speak of the devil: Kamasaki was walking up to them, very obviously scowling at Futakuchi. 

“Shouldn’t you be in class?” 

Futakuchi rolled his eyes, “class is overrated.”

  
“What?” Moniwa squeaked. “You have class?”

  
The bell rung and Futakuchi smirked at him, “not anymore.”

Moniwa opened and closed his mouth, he had no idea what to say. Kamasaki’s frown deepened as he glared at Futakuchi. 

“Take your classes seriously!”

Futakuchi rolled his eyes again, “whatever.”

  
Kamasaki grumbled but didn’t say anything, instead turning to Moniwa. 

“You getting lunch?” he asked. 

“Yeah, I’m a bit cold though so I might-”

“Here,” Kamasaki tossed his Gryffindor scarf at his face and Moniwa caught a mouthful of wool. 

“Thanks,” he said and wrapped it around his neck. 

“You were cold?” he heard Futakuchi ask softly next to him and he turned to look at him questioningly but didn’t have time to answer before Kamasaki started talking. 

“Let’s go. I’m hungry.”

  
“Um,” Moniwa looked at Futakuchi hesitantly who was glaring at Kamasaki but smirked at Moniwa when he noticed him looking. 

“I’ll see you around,” he turned and made his way down the corridor. 

“Bye!” Moniwa called out after some hesitation and Kamasaki looked at him weirdly. 

“Why are you helping him?” he asked as they began to walk to the Great Hall. 

“Because he asked me to?”

  
“Yeah so? If I asked you to jump off a cliff would you?”

  
Moniwa sighed and looked at Kamasaki.

“Tell me.”

  
“What?”

“I know you want to say something.”

  
Kamasaki looked at him and groaned.

“You’re too naïve Moniwa.”

  
“We’re the same age!” Moniwa frowned at him. 

“You have no idea what Futakuchi’s family is like. They’re seriously traditional! I don’t know what he’s doing being friends with a halfblood but-”

“What?” Moniwa’s voice was hoarse. “What do you mean?”

  
Kamasaki stopped talking and looked down at him hesitantly, “you know what I mean.”

  
“I do. And it doesn’t sound like it’s Futakuchi who’s got the problem.”

  
“Moniwa,” Kamasaki ruffled his hair obviously getting annoyed. “You’re being stubborn. You know what I mean. You know I would never discriminate-”

“Yeah I do. Which is why I don’t understand why you would say that. You should know that just because your parents are like that doesn’t mean you have to be.”

“Moniwa…” Kamasaki sighed. “Come on…”

Moniwa didn’t say anything, stewing. He should be used to it. People were always bringing up the fact that his mother had ‘broken’ one of the few remaining pureblood families by falling in love with a muggle. 

But he’d never thought his friends would start bringing it up. It wasn’t any of their business, in a way, it wasn’t any of his. He loved his parents, and they loved him – and that was all that mattered.

“I’m sorry okay?” Kamasaki said. 

Moniwa sighed, he knew Kamasaki meant well. But he also knew Futakuchi meant well too. He only wanted help to get on the Quidditch team, what was wrong with that? And as far as Moniwa knew, Futakuchi couldn’t care less that he was a halfblood. 

 

~

 

Moniwa didn’t really notice. It all happened so gradually. But slowly Futakuchi became one of his closest friends. He didn’t even notice it happening, but the more time they spent out on the Quidditch pitch, the more time they seemed to spend off it. And all of a sudden, they were spending time together for no other reason than that - just to spend time together.

 

~

 

“Come on.”

  
“Are you sure?” Moniwa hesitated, not entirely sure this was a good idea. 

“It’s fine, it happens all the time.”

“It does?”

  
Futakuchi nodded and Moniwa frowned. 

“No one from the other houses have ever been in our common room.”

“You sure about that?”

“What do you mean?”

“Maybe you just never saw them.”

  
Futakuchi tapped against the stony wall of the dungeon and Moniwa watched in awe as the stones began to move as if they were liquid and face formed in the stone. It blinked and stared Futakuchi. 

“Password?” it asked in a gravelly voice and Moniwa jumped.

“Oh my god!” he stared at it. 

“Wrong!” the stone face barked out and Futakuchi rolled his eyes and turned to it. 

“Basilisk.”

“Correct!”

  
The face disappeared into the stone and the wall began to ripple, slowly moving back to reveal a dark green door. Futakuchi took Moniwa’s hand and pushed open the door, pulling the Hufflepuff into the Slytherin Common Room. Moniwa tried not to think too hard about Futakuchi’s cool fingers wrapped around his slightly sweaty ones.

“Edgy password,” he said looking around, trying to distract himself.

Futakuchi snorted but didn’t answer, dropping Moniwa’s hand who tried discreetly wipe his sticky fingers onto his robe. He felt very out of place. His eyes widened as he noticed what he’d originally thought was a massive painting. It was an aquarium.

“Wait…is that the lake?” he asked, stepping closer in amazement. 

Futakuchi grinned and nodded. 

“Pretty cool right?”

Moniwa gaped at it, and his eyes widened as some fish and some weird-looking octopus-type creatures swam by.

“Amazing…” he put his fingers on the glass. “This is incredible.”

He heard Futakuchi laugh behind him and turned around to see the younger boy shaking his head, evidently amused. 

“What?” he asked, his face turning red. 

“You’re just like the first years.”

“Well, I’ve never seen it before,” he said defensively.

Futakuchi didn’t answer and instead collapsed onto one of the brown leather sofas, set up at a right angle to the aquarium. After a few more moments of staring out into the Great Lake, Moniwa moved to sit down next to him. He pushed Futakuchi’s legs off and then sat down next to him. 

“It’s kinda nice down here,” he said. 

“I know.”

Futakuchi leant back against the armest of the sofa, lifting his legs onto Moniwa’s lap, who immediately pushed them off again. Futakuchi grumbled and shifted slightly, closing his eyes with a yawn. 

“Are you tired?” asked Moniwa and the younger boy nodded, not opening his eyes. 

The Hufflepuff rolled his eyes and reached into his bag to pull out a book. He read, both of them quiet for who knows how long. Moniwa felt Futakuchi shift slight and he smiled to himself as he looked at him out of the corner of his eye. His face was relaxed, free from his usual smirk or occasional frown. It made him look unusually young, especially now he was sitting down and not towering over him. His brown hair was messy from training outside. Moniwa’s fingers twitched.

He quietly moved closer to Futakuchi and without hesitation reached out and tucked a few stray hands of hair behind his ear. Futakuchi eyes’ shot open and he stared at him. 

“There you go,” his fingers lingered a little before pulling away and Futakuchi rolled his eyes. 

“Are you my mother?”

  
“No. Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to do this.”

  
Moniwa quickly slid closer and pressed his lips to Futakuchi’s cheek, his cheeks immediately flushing when he pulled away. He purposefully shifted back and looked down at his book. He’d just done that. Oh god. What had come over him? It had just felt so natural. Futakuchi turned to stare at him in shock but Moniwa could see a smirk forming out of the corner of his eye. Relief flooded his body. Thank god, it was just a joke. Friends joked around with each other. It was fine.

“You know, my mum does do that. Why don’t you try something else?”

Moniwa shook his head, “no thanks.”

“What? Why not?”

  
“You made it weird.”

  
“How did I make it weird?”

  
“You brought your mother into it.”

  
“You’re the one who brought her into it.”

“Did not!” Moniwa turned away from Futakuchi and held his book high in front of his face. 

“Come on…you can’t tease me like that.”

Futakuchi wrapped his arms around the smaller boy and pulled him in between his legs.

“Ow!” Moniwa winced as he was pulled across the sofa, effectively into Futakuchi’s lap, who ignored him and forced his chin onto Moniwa’s shoulder. 

“You comfortable?” he glared at Futakuchi who smiled innocently back at him. 

“Very. Aren’t you?”

  
Moniwa didn’t answer but shrugged his shoulders up and down until Futakuchi moved his head with a whinge, before settling back into his chest. He lifted his book again, and with a satisfied smile, he started to read. 

 

~

 

“You sure you’re just friends?”

“Huh?” Moniwa looked up from the Quidditch Weekly and stared across the library sofa at Kamasaki.

His friend grumbled and repeated his question. 

“You and Futakuchi, are you sure you’re just friends?”

Moniwa blinked and then chuckled. “What else would we be?”’

Kamasaki raised an eyebrow in response. “You really want me to answer?”

Moniwa rolled his eyes and went back to his book. He tried to concentrate, but he could feel Kamasaki’s gaze on him and he turned to look at him again in exasperation. 

“We’re friends. Besides Futakuchi’s not gay.”

Kamasaki’s face turned red and Moniwa rolled his eyes again. He didn’t understand how Kamasaki was fine with him being gay, and then being so uncomfortable with him talking about the possibility of anyone else being gay. Well, he guessed he did understand a little, not matter how accepting Kamasaki was of him, his values were traditional. Values that Futakuchi and his family probably reflected.

Moniwa didn’t like to think about it. Everyone he’d talked to had always been fine with him being gay, and even if it was being ignorant, he wanted to live in this safety bubble a little while longer.

“Whatever you say,” said Kamasaki and Moniwa nodded at him, glad the subject had been dropped. 

 

 

~

 

“You should come to my house for the holidays.”

  
Moniwa flew a little higher to catch the quaffle before throwing it back to Futakuchi, “what?”

Futakuchi flew closer and tossed the quaffle to him.

“Come over.”

  
Moniwa caught it, “I dunno.”

  
“You’re just staying here for the holidays anyways.”

The two of them started to spiral down and Moniwa looked at his friend with a sigh. He couldn’t tell Futakuchi he didn’t want to, because he did, and he had never been a very good liar. It was just what Kamasaki had said was bothering him. But then wouldn’t that be even weirder? They were just good friends, so nothing would happen. 

So it was fine. He nodded at Futakuchi after a few seconds. 

“Sure, why not?”

 

~

 

They spent the entire day hanging out and excluding a rather tense and weird exchange with Futakuchi’s father, it had just been the two of them. They were just friends. Moniwa shouldn’t have worried. At least, until it came to sleep.

 

~

 

“There’s only one bed in my room.”

  
“I can always sleep in the lounge-“

  
“No. I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  
“O-okay.”

 

 

~

 

He’d got used to Futakuchi being close to him, in fact, he’d never really concentrated on it before. But now their faces were only a few centimetres apart, and he couldn’t turn around without elbowing him in the face. Which would wake Futakuchi up, which was not something Moniwa wanted to do. 

He closed his eyes. He still couldn’t relax. He knew Futakuchi was there, even with his eyes closed, there was the warmth from his body and he could he feel his breath on his face. He opened his eyes and shifted his body, but his back was pressed against the wall and he couldn’t move. It had been stiflingly awkward when they were both awake, lying in silence, staring up at the ceiling. Futakuchi had eventually turned to face the wall and Moniwa had closed his eyes. He’d heard Futakuchi shuffle and eventually his breathing had evened out.

Moniwa had opened his eyes, only to find Futakuchi had turned back around and their faces close enough that Moniwa could count Futakuchi’s individual lashes. Almost in a trance Moniwa lifted his fingers and slowly traced the curve of Futakuchi’s cheekbone. As soon as he realised what he was doing he pulled his hand back, his face burning even though no one could see him. 

He quickly turned around so he wouldn’t have to face Futakuchi, accidentally elbowing him in the face when he did. Futakuchi groaned and Moniwa immediately turned back around, this time, kneeing him in what he was pretty sure was not his stomach. 

Futakuchi’s eyes’ snapped open and he swore. 

“I’m so sorry!” Moniwa quickly sat up and stared at Futakuchi with wide eyes. “Did it hurt?”

Futakuchi snorted as he slowly sat up, wincing and then fixing Moniwa with a stare and a raised eyebrow that said it all – _what do you think?_

Moniwa didn’t know what to do. He figured another apology might be a good way to go. 

“I’m really sorry.”

“Why aren’t you asleep?” asked Futakuchi as he turned on a small light so Moniwa could see his face better. 

“I was just trying to get comfortable…” he said hesitantly and then added. “I could always sleep on the floor.”

Futakuchi shook his head, “It’s fine. You get comfortable then.”

  
“Um,” Moniwa hesitated but Futakuchi didn’t say anything more. “Okay then.”

He lay back down, turning his back to the other back and pretty much squashing himself into the wall. He heard Futakuchi sigh, and then the bed creaked as he himself lay back down too. Moniwa lay with his eyes open for a bit and then slowly they began to close. He was just about to drift off to sleep and when he felt Futakuchi’s arm around his waist. Before he could say anything, he was pulled back from the wall and into something, admittedly much more comfortable: Futakuchi’s chest.

“Hey!” he said, a little louder than he meant and when he didn’t get an answer he shuffled and turned around to face him. “Hey!” 

Futakuchi’s eyes opened and he looked at him as if to say _what’s the problem now?_

“What are you doing?” 

“Just getting comfortable,” Futakuchi answered and Moniwa spluttered.

“Okay so now you’re comfortable, move your arm.”

“Do you want me to?”

Moniwa opened his mouth to answer that _yes, he very much did want that_ but he suddenly hesitated. He hadn’t thrown Futakuchi arm off him, he hadn’t even shrugged it off like he did whenever Kamasaki felt the need to ruffle his hair. There was something comforting about the weight and warmth of it, and it was a lot more comfortable to be snuggled against Futakuchi than squashing himself into the wall. But...

“This isn’t what friends do…” he said out loud, and then clamped his mouth shut in hope Futakuchi hadn’t heard.

There was silence for a while and then:

“I know.”

 

~

 

“Why couldn’t I take the sofa?”

“Sometimes my family will apparate out of nowhere. I didn’t want to freak them, or you, out.”

  
“Ah,” Moniwa nodded sagely, biting into his toast and couldn’t resist adding. “It wasn’t to get me into your bed then.”

  
Futakuchi smirked at him. “Where’s that confidence coming from?”

Moniwa blushed slightly but he didn’t back down, grinning back, thinking of Futakuchi’s embrace the night before. It had been nothing but innocent he knew, but still like he said, it wasn’t something friends did.

“I wonder.”

Futakuchi’s face turned bright red and Moniwa laughed out loud. The other boy glared him. 

“Stop laughing.”

  
“Sorry it’s just…” Moniwa chuckled. “It’s just your face. It’s cute.”

Futakuchi turned even redder.

 

~

Futakuchi winked at him from across the Great Hall and Moniwa could feel the tip of his ears heat up. He pointedly looked away and had to resist the temptation to look back. He couldn’t look. That just weird. It wasn’t like he was always looking for Kamasaki every other second. But Kamasaki was different. He didn’t want to feel Kamasaki’s skin on his like he wanted to feel Futakuchi’s or his lips-

“Moniwa haven’t you got class?”

“Huh?” Moniwa’s face turned bright red as he was jolted out of his thoughts and Yaku raised an eyebrow at him and repeated. 

“Isn’t there a class you should be getting to?”

Moniwa swallowed and cleared his head. He nodded at Yaku and stood up, swinging his bag over his shoulder. He should really try and focus. He walked down a random corridor before realising he didn’t actually know which class he was going to. So much for focusing. He paused for a second, right he should have-

His body was suddenly pulled to the side and he let out a cry of surprise as he was pulled through a door he was pretty sure hadn’t been there before. He lost his balance and tipped into something. Something that was solid but not hard, it was actually rather comfortable whatever it was. Or who. 

He turned around and grinned when he saw who it was. 

“Hey.”

  
“Hey,” Futakuchi smiled back at him, taking a small step back as Moniwa looked around.

A frown crossed his face, he didn’t recognise this room at all. 

“Where is this?”

  
Futakuchi shrugged, “dunno, I just saw this door and it was empty so I figured we could hang out for a while.”

“I have class,” Moniwa paused and then looked at him. “Don’t you?”

Futakuchi shrugged again. “Probably.”

Moniwa crossed his arms and he could already feel what Kamasaki called his ‘mum’ instincts kicking in and he tried not to, he really tried. 

“Class is just class,” Futakuchi smirked at him confidently, “I’m not missing anything.”

“You should take it more seriously,” Moniwa looked at him and Futakuchi raised an eyebrow, already opening his mouth to answer. “Your fifth year is important. It’s your OWLs, and your OWLs determine which subjects you take next year and then after that it’s your NEWTs which determine which kind of job you’re going to get.”

Futakuchi rolled his eyes, “Moniwa, you sound like my-”

Moniwa interrupted him determinedly looking at him in the eyes. 

“Don’t you at least want to try?”

  
Futakuchi opened his mouth and then closed it again with an apathetic shrug. Moniwa waited for him to talk and after a sigh, he did.

“Who cares really? It’ll never be good enough anyways.”

“Good enough?” Moniwa was confused. “Good enough for who?”

“Good enough for…” Futakuchi trailed off and then scowled. “Whatever. This isn’t why I pulled you in here.”

“You dragged me in here to ‘hang out’,” pointed out Moniwa, “that includes talking about feelings.”

Futakuchi’s lips turned up in disgust and Moniwa tried not to laugh. He’d looked like a petulant child. 

“Just think about it,” he said, deciding it was probably better not to push it. “Not about whether it’s good enough for your father or your mother or whatever, but what’s good enough for you.”

 

~

 

It was cheesy. It was so so cheesy. Messing around in the rain. But Moniwa loved it. Futakuchi took his hand and pulled him closer. Moniwa looked up at him, staring into his heated brown eyes. He closed his eyes and waited. He could feel Futakuchi’s breath and his lips. They kissed.And again. And then again, each time more passionate than the former. He felt Fuakuchi’s arms wrap his waist, pulling him close, their chests pressing together. The heat from Futakuchi’s skin permeated through the thin fabric of their shirts, even thinner now that they were wet.

Moniwa brought his arms up and wrapped them around Futakuchi’s neck, arching his back to bring their bodies even closer. The taller boy slowly pulled away, looked at Moniwa and laughed. Moniwa looked at Futakuchi and had to laugh too. He looked ridiculous, and he was pretty sure himself wasn’t looking too much better. Hair was stuck to their cheeks and their wet clothes dripping with water. Futakuchi rested his forehead on Moniwa’s shoulder as the latter absentmindedly traced patterns onto his back, rain making its way down his face and dripping down his chin. 

 

~

They were sitting on Moniwa’s bed, Futakuchi studying and Moniwa reading his book when suddenly Futakuchi spoke out of nowhere.

“Do you like me?”

  
“What?”

  
“Do you like me?”

  
“What? Are you really asking me that now?”

Futakuchi’s face turned pink as he scowled. 

“You’ve never said anything.”

“I kissed you didn’t I?”

“I kissed _you._ ” 

“Well, I’ve always kissed back.” Moniwa paused and then stared at Futakuchi. “Wait, do you really think I’d kiss you if I didn’t like you?”

  
“I mean like like.” Futakuchi’s face was unusually bright.

  
Moniwa’s lips quirked up and he was very suddenly reminded that Futakuchi was younger than him. It was easy to forget, the other boy was so confident and so tall as well, but he was still a kid. Even if it was a just a year, Moniwa sometimes forgot than Futakuchi was more of a teenager than an adult. A year made a big difference.

“Whatever, it’s stupid,” Futakuchi muttered and made to leave.

He took Futakuchi’s hand, the latter looking at him in surprise. Moniwa smiled brightly at him. 

“I like you,” he looked right into his eyes and added. “I’ve got to like my boyfriend right?”

Futakuchi’s face turned as a red as tomato and he stared at Moniwa, mouth slightly open. The latter tried not to laugh but a little giggle escaped him, he hadn’t been expecting that reaction. It was pretty flattering to be honest.

“Boyfriend…” he vaguely heard Futakuchi mutter and he looked at him again.

“Hm?”

  
Futakuchi smirked at him, and Moniwa smiled ruefully, there he was, back to normal. But he’d been pretty cute there and Moniwa filed his now boyfriend’s red face into his memory.

 

~

 

Futakuchi said they should wait to tell people. Moniwa agreed. He wasn’t really bothered, and he figured Futakuchi was just shy. In a way it was fun, sneaking out after hours, tiptoeing around after class. It was like some sort of forbidden love story.

 

~

 

“Can I tell anyone?”

  
“Huh? Why?”

  
Moniwa shrugged, “it’s just a little tedious having to lie to Kamasaki all the time.”

  
Futakuchi scowled, “do you tell him you’re spending time with me?”

Moniwa gave him a look, “you’re the one who told me not tell.”

Futakuchi smirked and pulled Moniwa closer so he could whisper in his ear. 

“Well, you don’t have to tell him exactly what we’re doing, do you?”

Moniwa smiled as Futakuchi leaned down even closer for a kiss.

“I guess not.”

 

~

 

It was getting tiring. All the sneaking around had been fun at first, but now it was becoming a little tedious. And randomly getting pulled into the room of requirement wasn’t cool, it was jarring and a little annoying. It made Moniwa feel like a rag doll, and the thought that he was being used had taken root and refused to leave his mind. But it’d been over a month – surely now they could tell people. 

 

~

 

“You know we still can’t tell anyone.”

  
“Huh? What do you mean?”

  
“My father. He would never-”

“Oh. Right.”

“Then…”

  
“Then, this isn’t what I thought.”

  
“Moniwa wait-”

“No thanks for the meal. And I don’t think you need any help in Quidditch anymore.”

“Moni-”

“Bye.”  


 

~

 

He regretted it. He shouldn’t have stormed off. 

But he knew he would’ve regretted even more if he’d agreed. If he’d stayed.

He didn’t want to be Futakuchi’s dirty little secret. He wanted to be his boyfriend. He wanted to go on dates, not sneak around the castle. It’d be fun at first, but now he realised, it just wasn’t what he was thought it was. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special Chapter to make up for how long it's taken me to update!!


	12. A Trip to the Village

Daichi ran his hand through his hair again and for the fourth time that morning checked there were no leftover crumbs or slivers of bacon in his teeth. As the last three times had revealed, his teeth were clean. An annoyed knock at the bathroom alerted him that he had gone over his time. 

“Get a move on Daichi! Unless you wanna get left behind!”  


“Sorry,” he pulled the door open and Nishinoya gave him a cheeky grin and thumbs up. 

“Looking good Captain.”

Daichi rolled his eyes, his cheeks turning a bit red when he thought about why he’d spent an extra ten minutes in the bathroom. Well, it wasn’t like there was anything wrong with making sure you looked, well good felt like an overstatement, but at the very least _alright,_ was there?

“Let’s go,” Nishinoya’s eyes glinted mischievously and Daichi stared at him.

“You’re banned from Zonko’s,” he reminded the younger boy but Nishinoya only grinned back. 

“I know. But Ryu isn’t.”

“It’s only a matter of time.”

Daichi turned to see Iwaizumi in the doorway who nodded at him in greeting.

“That’s rude,” Nishinoya said, but not seriously and Iwaizumi rolled his eyes.

“It’s true,” Daichi countered, to be honest it was miracle it had taken as long as it did for Nishinoya to get banned from Zonko’s Joke Shop considering how many complaints had been made. 

Nishinoya grinned back. 

“Gotta make the best of it while we can then!” He grabbed a jacket and motioned to the door. “Let’s go, let’s go.”

“Toss me that bag,” Iwaizumi pointed to a black backpack sitting on his bed and Daichi obliged lightly throwing it across the room, the jingle of coins inside signalling why Iwaizumi had come back up to the room for it. 

“Thanks,” he caught it and swung it over his shoulder, following Nishinoya down the stairs. 

Daichi checked his pockets and, satisfied with the amount of coins he felt there, he walked down, shutting the door behind him. Iwaizumi was leaning against the wall, and straightened when Daichi got down. 

“Are you meeting up with Oikawa?” Daichi asked and Iwaizumi nodded with a small grimace. 

“Unfortunately.”  


Daichi smiled to himself and the two of them walked towards the exit. 

“Hey Daichi!” 

The two paused and Asahi ran up the stairs to join them with a smile. He cast his eyes around and then back to Daichi. 

“Where’s Nishinoya?”  


Daichi shrugged and looked at Iwaizumi questioningly. 

“Ran off somewhere,” said the Gryffindor vice-captain, “Tanaka got him all excited.”

Daichi shook his head and mentally prepared himself for a week of chasing after the two younger Gryffindors. The three third years made their way to the courtyard where Professor Yachi was organising students to go out. The three made their way over and she waved them forward. 

“Ah Sawamura,” she smiled at him, “would you mind giving me a hand?”  


The words were out of his mouth and smile on his face before he could even stop to think to them. 

“Of course.”

Iwaizumi bumped his shoulder and he turned to see him frowning at him, with Asahi staring at him in confusion. 

“I thought you were meeting Suga,” Asahi whispered and Daichi bit his lip. 

It wasn’t like he’d forgotten. It’d been on his mind all morning. But he was the headboy. And it shouldn’t take more than fifteen minutes to organise them.

“You guys go on ahead.”

He heard Iwaizumi sigh, and Asahi smiled apologetically.

“You sure?” The Huffepuff asked but neither of them offered to stay behind, probably tired enough of waiting for him already, and Daichi nodded.

“Yeah, go on. I’ll catch up.”  


Professor Yachi watched him as his friends walked on without him. 

“Thank you for this Sawamura but you’re aware you didn’t have to - it is your day off.”

Daichi smiled at her, “I don’t mind.”  


“Don’t you think you should?”

Daichi looked up at her a little shocked that the usually closed-off teacher was saying something so, well, personal. 

“Um…” Daichi hesitated but thankfully was saved from answering by the arrival of a large gaggle of third years.

“Alright, alright, alright…” Professor Yachi looked down at her clipboard. 

“Get into a line,” Daichi said loudly and immediately the third years shuffled into an orderly line - or as orderly as thirteen to fourteen year olds could be. 

“Thank you Sawamura. Then, I hope you all have your permission forms.”

There were mumbles and rustling as they all pulled out their papers. Professor Yachi let Daichi check them all as she ticked off the names of a few seventh years. 

“You’re good to go. Have fun,” Daichi smiled at the last of the third years, a cute-looking girl with too big glasses and another sharp-faced one with bright pink cropped hair. 

Their faces turned bright red and they stuttered out a thanks. Daichi watched them go with a small smile. 

“Very Prince Charming.”

“Huh?” Daichi turned around to see Suga smiling at him and he immediately felt his face heating up.

“Nothing,” Suga shook his head and walked over. “Asahi said you’d be here.”  


“ You were in Hogsmeade?” Daichi felt his stomach coil with guilt - he’d been under this assumption that Suga would come through the courtyard and so he’d be able to see him and they could walk down together. 

It hadn’t occurred to him that Suga could already have been in Hogsmeade and was waiting for _him_.

Suga shook his head with a small smile, “I ran into Asahi around the corner. I thought I’d come find you.”  


Daichi looked over at Professor Yachi and caught her eye. She gave a quick nod and then a wink, before turning back to the last stragglers who were looking to make their way down to the village. Once again Daichi was left gaping and he slowly turned back to Suga who looked at him questioningly. 

“What’s wrong?”  


Daichi shook his head, “never mind. It’s been a bit of a weird morning.”

“Still up to showing me around?” 

Daichi immediately looked at Suga, already geared up to answer that he would always be up to it, there was absolutely no need to worry but the words died as he caught sight of Suga’s soft smile. 

He felt himself turning red as he smiled back, “of course.”

They walked down together, chatting about Quidditch, the Tournament and occasionally about things that popped up in the windows of the various shops they passed. As they talked, the strangest feeling was making its way through Daichi’s body, a warm and light feeling that made him feel a little excited, but mostly just happy and relaxed. It was such a pleasant feeling, so easy to feel and fall into. He supposed his heart was finally getting used to Suga’s smiles and occasional teasing quips.

______________________________________________________________

 

“Maybe if you weren’t so stupid,” Kunimi sucked on his lollipop and answered Hinata’s question with missing a beat. 

“Kunimi!” Yachi looked at him shocked whilst Hinata spluttered besides her. 

“I’m not stupid!” He finally managed to get out, by which point Kunimi had moved on to look at the wands displayed at an rickety Ollivander store. 

Hinata turned to Yachi, frowning. 

“Do you really think I wouldn’t be smart enough to win the Tournament?”

  
Yachi hesitated, “I don’t think being smart is everything.”

“You have to have magical talent as well,” offered Miyanoshi and Hinata paused. 

Yachi sighed, and secretly wished Miyanoshita had said something like good Quidditch skills or something. 

“Not that it matters whether or not you could win the Tournmanent!” Miyanoshita laughed and looked at Yachi who just sighed again. 

Slowly Hinata turned to Yachi, a determined expression on his face and his were shockingly steely. 

“I think I could win it.”

Yachi was slightly scared by the tone of his voice, she’d never heard it that intense before. She stared at him, something eerily like fear starting to curl in her stomach, but the moment had passed. His eyes were back to soft brown and he smiled at her cheerfully. 

“You don’t think so?”

“Umm, yeah!” She smiled back at him. “I’m sure you could.”

Hinata nodded happily and Yachi shook off that weird feeling she’d just got. It must have been her imagination, Hinata wasn’t a scary person; he was Hinata. 

“Hey is that Kageyama?” 

Yachi looked around but couldn’t see him, “where?”

“He’s right there!” Hinata ran off and Yachi called after him. “Oi! Bakageyama!”

“Hinata! Wait!” 

But it was too late and he had disappeared into the crowd. Yachi looked around but she couldn’t see Kagayema at all. It was like Hinata had kind of Kageyama detector, he always seemed to be able to tell whenever he was around. 

“Well, he’s gone,” Miyanoshita said, peering over Yachi’s shoulder. “Guess he’s not coming with us to Honeydukes then?”

“I guess not,” Yachi blinked and looked for Hinata but the orange-haired boy had disappeared, hidden by heads of brown.

Miyanoshita pouted. “I can’t believe they’d leave two girls all by themselves.”

Yachi giggled as Miyanoshita harrumphed. 

“Shall we go?”

“Yeah. Not point in waiting around for them if they’re just gonna run off with no warning.”

Yachi nodded and the two girls linked arms and made their way to Honeydukes. Yachi loved Hogsmeade. Her father was a muggle, and her mother had always seemed to prefer living in the muggle world than the magical one, so her exposure to magic was pretty limited compared to other halfbloods. But walking in Hogsmeade and seeing all the shops, every single one filled with some kind of magical artefact, food or even drink, she felt like this was the world she belonged in. Secretly she really wanted to move to a wizarding village, or even just closer to somewhere magical. But her mother acted like her father was allergic to magic or something, he was a muggle not an invalid.

“Look it’s Hinata’s little friend!”

“Oi Yachi!”  


Yachi was jerked out her thoughts by the loud of cawing of two voices she recognised immediately. She had to resist the temptation to hide behind Miyanoshita as Tanaka and Nishinoya bounded over to her. 

“Have you seen our little baby crow?”

“What?” Said Yachi, her intimidated feeling fading slightly to give to a daunted confusion.

“Our tiny little seeker,” Tanaka bellowed excitedly as Noya nodded next to him, two bags, one that Yachi was pretty sure she saw move, swung over his shoulder.

“We’ve got some stuff we need his help with,” Noya grinned evilly and then looked at Yachi. “He’s good friends with that tall dude from Slytherin?”  


“Tall dude from Slytherin?” Yachi repeated, wasn’t that most people in that House?

“Yeah, yeah,” Tanaka covered his eyebrows and glared down at Yachi.

She immediately started trembling, he was so scary. 

“Yes! Him! Nice one Ryuu!” Noya high-fived Tanaka and Yachi breathed a sigh of relief to have his eyes off her. 

She took a deep breath as they turned back to her. 

“You know?” Nishinoya asked and Miyanoshita snorted. 

“You’re talking about Takanobu Aone right?”  


Tanaka and Nishinoya looked at each other, back to Miyanoshita and then in perfect sync, nodded.

“Oh,” Yachi said quietly and then she nodded. “I’ve seen them together a few times.”

“Yes!” Noya cheered and Tanaka clenched his fist.

“Success!”

The two of them ran off whooping and Yachi suddenly felt she’d helped two criminals commit a terrible crime.

“Gryffindor’s got some serious idiots,” Miyanoshita said and Yachi shuddered. 

“Scary people too.”  


“You think those two are scary?” Miyanoshita laughed and Yachi looked at her with wide eyes.

“You don’t?”  


“Well, no.”

Yachi turned slightly and watched Tanaka and Nishinoya slip on some ice and almost bowl over a poor first year struggling to drag a far too big broom behind them. 

“Maybe you’re right.”

“Enough about those buffoons. Let’s get some sweets!”  


And that is what they did. Thirty minutes later, the two of them were sitting on a bench, cheerily sampling each other’s purchases. Yachi was just about to dig in to a chocolate frog when she heard someone shouting. She looked up and the enchanted chocolate hopped out of its wrapper and onto the ground. 

“Ah wait!” Yachi ran after it, why did it have to be so fast, it was only a chocolate!

“Yachi!” Miyanoshita called out after her, but didn’t seem like she could be bothered to follow. 

“Come back, come back, come on…” Yachi creeped closer to her frog who had stopped just underneath a bush. 

She had got within reaching distance, kneeling down and slowly crawling forwards when she heard loud voices again. 

“Please stop bothering me. We said it was over.”

“No, you’re the only one who said. Right before you stomped off like a child.”

“I’m the child? You’re the one who still hides his dirty little secrets in his bedroom so his father won’t find out.”

There was silence and Yachi bit her lip. She definitely shouldn’t be hearing this, she should go. She reached out, grabbed her chocolate frog and backed away. When she felt like she had got far enough she jumped enough, just catching sight of dark curly hair and a tall brunette boy she didn’t recognise before turning around and running off. 

“You took your time,” Miyanoshita licked her fingers as Yachi, panting, sat back down on the bench. “That little frog really took you for run huh?”  


Yachi opened her palm and looked at the little frog and all of a sudden couldn’t bring herself to eat it, “you could say that.”

 

______________________________________________________________

 

“Here you go boys, one ginger beer and one lemonade.”  


“Thanks,” Iwaizumi said, taking his drink and pushing the other one over to Oikawa who let out a depressed sigh. 

Here we go again, thought Iwaizumi taking a sip of ginger beer. He let the bubbles travel across his tongue and down his throat before addressing the other boy.

“What?”

Oikawa looked up at him, and Iwaizumi noticed with some measure of shock the large dark circles under his eyes. Usually Oikawa’s skin was perfect, not a pimple, blemish or imperfection in sight. But today it looked stretched, stressed, and those eyebags, how had Iwaizumi not noticed them sooner?

“My face!” Whinged Oikawa and Iwaizumi nodded to himself. 

That was why. He was always distracted by how annoying Oikawa became whenever he was tired.

“Look at my skin. It hasn’t been this dry since I let my mother buy my moisturiser!”

“Uh huh,” Iwaizumi took a sip and then looked at Oikawa’s untouched drink. 

He was not expert in skincare, but his mum’s friends were always going about how good lemon water was and lemonade was pretty much that plus some bubbles and some sugar right?

“Have a drink,” he said and Oikawa stared down at it morosely. 

Iwaizumi looked away, frustrated. As much as he wanted to whack Oikawa across the head, he was pretty sure that was not the best solution at this exact moment. Plus Oikawa was acting so fragile there was a good chance his head would just pop off and continue to roll morosely around the floor of the 3 Broomsticks. Iwaizumi almost laughed, and then immediately sobered up at the thought of the alternative: actually having to talk about Oikawa’s problems. 

“So. What it is?”

“It’s my poor skin.”

Iwaizumi groaned and then glared at Oikawa who stared back at him through his fingers.

“I keep getting nightmares,” he said in an strangely small voice.

Iwaizumi scowled. Oikawa was always talking about his dreams, every week he always seemed to have a particularly weird one. Why was he being so weird about it?  


“Yeah and? You have dreams all the time.”

"You’re right Iwa-chan. Forget about it! I was just being silly!”  


Iwaizumi blinked, a little startled at the sudden change and was just about accept it before he saw Oikawa look down at his drink, and his eyes were drawn to the dark bags again. No, this was something different from the usual dreams. Before he could even think about how to wrestle what was actually going on out of best friend his thoughts were interrupted by a high-pitched, rather squeaky voice.

“Oh Iwaizumi, I didn’t know you came here.”  


Iwaizumi looked to where the voice had come from and saw pretty light-haired girl he recognised from his transfiguration class, walking up to his table. 

“Um, hello?” He said hesitantly, not exactly sure how to answer. 

She smiled brightly at him, “I haven’t seen you in ages. But we’re in the same transfiguration class this year! Lucky for us. You come here often? We should totally come here together sometime then. Have you tried their pumpkin cookies?”  


“No?” Iwaizumi felt a little bit like he was being attacked as she didn’t even give him a chance to properly reply before launching into another tangent. 

“They’re awesome! You really try them! How about next weekend? You could help with some transfiguration stuff too, it’s getting a little hard for me.”

“Um, sure,” Iwaizumi nodded, not really paying attention and winced as the girl let out a high-pitched squeal. 

“Alright! That’s so awesome. I’ll meet you here, um, how about at 11 o’clock next Sunday?”  


“Um, yeah sure,” Iwaizumi nodded, thoughts too full of how to broach the subject of bad dreams naturally to Oikawa to fully pay attention to what he was agreeing to. 

“Alright then,” she smiled brightly at him, “I will see you later then Iwaizumi.”

She walked off and Iwaizumi drank some more of his ginger beer, neither him or Oikawa saying anything for a moment until Oikawa clapped his hands together. 

“Iwa-chan~”  


Iwaizumi looked at him with a raised eyebrow, “you’ve brightened up.”

“I didn’t know you had it in you.”

“What?"

“I can’t believe you’ve finally got a date~” Oikawa said giggling. “I always thought you were going to end up living alone.”

“Shut up,” Iwaizumi felt his ears turning red.

He supposed in way, that was a date. He suddenly froze. Oh fuck. He didn’t even know her name. She’d been in his class for a few weeks already, and she had introduced herself but for the life of him he couldn’t remember. He groaned and Oikawa looked at him. 

“You don’t seem too interested,” Oikawa’s tone was strangely guarded compared to his earlier outpouring of enthusiasm. 

Iwaizumi was not about to admit he didn’t know her name, not if he didn’t want Oikawa to tease him for the rest of school year. 

“Oh yeah, I am.”  


Oikawa went quiet again before laughing loudly. 

“Well I suppose you can’t wait for next week then.”

“Um yeah,” Iwaizumi said a little weirded out by the back and forth. 

Neither of them said anything for a little while more and Iwaizumi’s thoughts strayed back to Oikawa’s weird behaviour.

“Some pretty bad dreams you’re having then?” He said, trying very hard to be casual so that Oikawa would talk about it naturally. 

Oikawa laughed, “you’re not very good at being subtle Iwa-chan.”

Iwaizumi scowled at him. “What are you talking about?”

“You’re going to have try a little harder. What is they say? A girl can’t reveal all her secrets.”

Iwaizumi groaned. “You’re not a girl you imbecile.”

Oikawa smiled a little sadly, “A pity really…”

“What” Iwaizumi scowled at him, “are you talking about?”

Oikawa waved a hand, “nothing, nothing.”  


“Are you going to tell me what is going on or not?” Iwaizumi snapped at him, fully fed up with Oikawa moping and then waving it off. 

“Iwa-chan, you sound like my mum."  


“For fuck’s sake,” Iwaizumi groaned.

“You’re not being very nice,” Oikawa said teasingly.

“You’re being an asshole,” Iwaizumi grumbled, but already his annoyance was fading as Oikawa grinned at him. “Fine don’t tell me what’s wrong. What do you want me to do about it?”

“Hm. That’s a big question~” Oikawa said singly and then stared at Iwaizumi right in the eyes and lowered his voice. “What would you be willing to do?”

Iwaizumi didn’t hesitate. “Come and punch you out so you can sleep.”

Oikawa’s mouth fell open and then closed and he started to laugh. It was a real laugh this time, not the stupid coy thing he would do to just to annoy him. Iwaizumi grinned back at him. This was better. This was it should be.

“Is that all you’re offering?” Oikawa giggled and Iwaizumi raised an eyebrow. 

“Not satisfied your majesty?”

“Not quite.”

“Hm,” Iwaizumi suddenly remembered something his mum had said before he’d left for Hogwarts and grinned - this would really cheer him up. “How about you come over in the next holidays?”

The laugh on Oikawa’s face slipped away and he started at Iwaizumi. “What?”

Iwaizumi looked at him. “Why are you so shocked?”

“Um, yeah. I’d like that.” Oikawa finally regained himself and he nodded quickly as if he thought Iwaizumi was going to retract the offer. 

“Great, that’s settled.” Iwaizumi nodded pleased with himself. 

He was a pretty great friend.

 

______________________________________________________________

 

Michiyima stared across the street and felt an invisible hand tighten its fingers around her heart. Daichi and Suga were talking and laughing in front of Honeydukes, their arms full of chocolate and Daichi hadn’t taken his eyes off the Beauxbatons student since Michiyima had caught sight of them. For some reason, when she’d seen them, she’d been in frozen in her tracks. Something had stopped her from running over there and saying hello. 

Now she could see what it was. She wasn’t as dense as Daichi, and maybe he couldn’t see exactly how he felt for Suga, but she could. The way he looked at Suga was the same way she looked at him. It was the look of someone in love. 

“It’s not the same.”  


She jumped and saw Kuroo looking at her, his feline eyes narrowed at her.

“Excuse me?” She said, completely confused and he smirked at her. 

“For someone who values her privacy, you’re not very discreet.”  


She felt her face turn red and she turned away from the painful sight across the road and crossed her arms. She stared at Kuroo, schooling her face into a neutral expression.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Really?” Kuroo turned her back to face Daichi and Suga who walking down the street, close enough that their arms would occasionally brush. 

He leant down close and whispered in her ear. 

“You’re thinking its the same. The way Sawamura sees our lovely little housemate, and the way you see the smoking Gryffindor captain.”

She wrenched her shoulders out of his long slender fingers and glared at him. 

“Stop being such a creep.”  


“Am I wrong?”

“Yes! Of course you are! You don’t have a clue what you’re talking about!”

“Hm,” Kuroo didn’t seem particularly bothered. “I don’t think I’m the one who’s wrong.”

“What do you mean?” The question escaped Michiyima’s lips before she could stop it and she bit down hard.

But it was too late. Kuroo smirked arrogantly and she clenched her fists. 

“Hm. Should I tell you?”  


“You’re being an ass,” Michiyima gritted out and Kuroo suddenly nodded. 

“You’re right. I’ll be nice, Slytherin solidarity and all that. You and Daichi aren’t the same. He looks at Sugawara in hope, and you’re looking with, well, regret.”

Michiyima’s face turned red and swallowed her anger. What did Kuroo know about her? He was acting like he hadn’t spent the last few weeks moping around the common room with her having to trail after him, trying desperately to cheer him up so she wouldn’t wake up one morning with him threatening to throw himself off the Ravenclaw Tower. 

“Has that little Ravenclaw boy stopped ignoring you? Is that why you’re in such a good mood?”  


Kuroo’s face didn’t change but his smirk stretched out into a cruel smile. 

“I think you’ve got yourself mixed up. I am not in a good mood. I am in a excellent mood.”

Michiyima’s eyes widened and she took a small step back. Kuroo straightened and smiled at her. 

“So now we’ve cleared that up,” he strolled past her and then turned around with a patronising wave, “I’ll see you around Michiyima.”

“Jerk,” she muttered under breath and then blinked. 

Wait a minute. He was totally back to normal. She breathed a sigh of relief, thank god. She wouldn’t have to come down to the common room at night and be scared to death by him standing by the aquarium like some kind of tortured mid-century poet. Although instead, she was going to have to deal with him being arrogant, and she hated to admit, quite intimidating too.

_You’re looking at him with regret._

She scowled. With regret? What was Kuroo even talking about? She wasn’t looking at Daichi with regret - she just liked him. So she was looking at him like she liked him, maybe a bit sad because it didn’t look like it would come to anything. But she didn’t regret liking him. There was still hope. Maybe Suga and him were just really good friends, there definitely seemed to be a lot of them at Hogwarts. 

“Hey! Hey! You!”  


Michiyima turned around and her face fell even more. A streak of black, white and yellow was making its extremely loud way towards her. She steeled herself and fixed a polite smile on her face as Bokuto landed in front of her. 

“Yo!” He said cheerfully and Michiyima blinked at him. 

“What’s wrong?”

“Huh? Nothing’s wrong,” he grinned at her. 

“Um. Okay,” Michiyima bit her lip to stop _well what do you want then_ from slipping past her lips.

What was wrong with her today? It was what Kuroo had said. It had put her in a foul mood. But whatever her mood was, she shouldn’t take it out on those who had nothing to do with it. Although Kuroo and Bokuto were friends. 

“Hello Michiyima.”

“Oh hello Akaashi,” Michiyima wasn’t surprised to see Akaashi follow up behind Bokuto a few minutes later. “We were wondering if you know where your captain might have gone?”

“My cap-oh Kuroo…yeah, he was here just a second ago,” Michiyima heard her voice turn bitter and Akaashi hesitated.

Michiyima quickly cleared her throat and smiled, “he ran off that way. He was in pretty good mood. I think.”  


“A good mood?” Bokuto looked surprised and Akaashi smiled ruefully. 

“It would make a nice change from the past few weeks.”  


Michiyima wasn’t so sure the change was nice at all but didn’t say anything. 

“How come you’re looking for him?” She asked.

“Because I want to see him,” Bokuto looked over where Michiyama had pointed and then looked back to Akaashi, “let’s go Akaashi!”

The two of them walked away and once again Michiyima was left looking at someone’s back. She sighed, her eyes drifting to the other side of the street, where Daichi and Sugawara had long since left. 

“A beautiful girl shouldn’t look so sad.”

Michiyima spun around. What was with her today, that people kept coming up and talking to her? She was really having the worst luck. Whatever she had been planning to say died on her tongue when her eyes landed on who it was. 

She recognised him from the newspapers her dad was always reading, the magazines her mum always left on the table, and more significantly from the Great Hall a few days ago. 

“Mr. Siamore!” Her voice went too loud with surprise and she flushed. “Sorry.”

“No need to apologise,” he smiled gently at her. “Now tell me, why do I see such a sad look on such a lovely face?”

Michiyima swallowed and looked down. She shuffled her feet awkwardly, even if she wanted to answer him, she wouldn’t even know what to say. What was bothering her? Was it Daichi and Suga? What Kuroo had said? Or-oh god she didn’t know. She sighed heavily and then remembered that she had actually been asked a question. 

“Oh, sorry!” She cleared her throat and smiled at him, “I’m fine thank you sir.”

He looked at her for a little while, his clear blue eyes seeming to pierce right through her. 

“Very well, if you’re sure.”  


She nodded adamantly, she wasn’t going to bother someone with her problems especially not someone as important as Sylvester Siamore.

 

______________________________________________________________

 

“Hey Kageyama! Look at me!” Hinata held up a bright green pointy hat, with a large brim, and dropped it on his head.

He strutted around the small shop and then stopped in front of his friend.

“My dear boy, what troubles you?” He made his voice go hoarse. 

Kageyama snorted, “you being an idiot.”

“You are blessed young boy! Blessed indeed!” Hinata’s voice got loud in his excitement and he could see Kageyama roll his eyes. 

After catching sight of Kageyama, Hinata had made a beeline for him. As it turned Kageyama had just been wondering the streets of Hogsmeade alone. Hinata cackled to himself, he was so weird. And somehow they had ended up in robes shop. Hinata wasn’t entirely sure how they’d got here but he was enjoying it. 

“How about this one for you?” Hinata bounded over to Kageyama and stood on his tiptoes to drop a dark bowler hat on his head. 

He took a step back and howled with laughter and Kageyama’s face darkened into a scowl. He couldn’t help it, Kageyama just looked so funny. The hat pushed down his black hair flat onto his forehead and covered his eyebrows, with his eyes glaring out ineffectively from the curled brim. 

“Are you boys going to buy anything?” A reproving voice interrupted Hinata’s mirth and he turned around to an disapproving looking woman glaring at the two of them. 

“Oh um,” Hinata suddenly became hyper aware of the hat on his head and tried to discreetly slide it off his head. 

He wasn’t very successful seeing as she was staring right at him. 

“Sorry,” he offered and shoved the hat back into a drawer, only for the woman to give him a frown. 

He turned around to Kageyama who had taken off the bowler hat and shoved it somewhere. The other boy was also glaring at him and Hinata decided this would be a very good time to vacate the premises. 

“Thank you!” He threw over his shoulder and bolted out the shop, Kageyama letting out a annoyed cry and pelting after him. 

He had made it out of the shop and quite a way down the streets before someone grabbed the collar of his coat and jerked him back. He chortled as he fell against someone back, before being pushed forward again. He spun around, throughly annoyed at being manhandled only to be confronted with Kageyama’s extremely scary angry face. 

“How far were you going to run you moron?” Kageyama barked at him and Hinata pulled at his collar to readjust it. 

“I was just getting out of there! That woman was scary!” He retorted, feeling a little hard-done by. 

“Only because you were acting like a complete idiot.”

“Was not!”

“You were!”

“Were not!”

“I’m not playing these stupid games!” Kageyama growled and Hinata stuck out his tongue at him. 

“Because you’d lose.”  


Immediately it was like a switch went off. Kageyama’s annoyance melted away to be replaced with fierce competitiveness, and Hinata was getting fired up just by sensing his aura. 

“I’d lose?” Kageyama questioned and Hinata grinned at him. 

“You bet.”

“Where are we going?”

“Honeydukes.”

They stared at each other, both grinning manically. There was a countdown going down in Hinata’s head.

Five. 

Four.

Three.

Two. 

One!

He shot off and so did Kageyama – at the exact same time. The two boys hurtled down the streets, dodging disapproving villagers and annoyed students. They stayed pretty much at the same level, but as Hinata caught sight of the bright colours of Honeydukes, he gave his legs a push and managed to just inch ahead of Kageyama. 

He felt a rush of exhilaration, and just before he reached the door he turned around to gloat. He caught sight of Kageyama, who’s face for some reason had gone pale and his eyes wide. He realised Kageyama wasn’t looking at him, but something above him. He turned around but he didn’t see what Kageyama had been staring at. 

Well, that wasn’t entirely true. He did see it, but just from very close up. He ran right into whatever it was in fact. He ran into it hard. He bounced back from it, tears prickling his eyes as his nose and forehead felt the brunt of the impact. 

“Owww,” he groaned and he was suddenly pulled back even further. “Hey!”

“You are such an idiot,” he heard a voice growl into his ear and immediately relaxed. 

It was just Kageyama. 

His eyes drifted back to what he had run into, and he started slightly to realise it was not as he had previously thought a what, but rather a who. Immediately he pushed himself off Kageyama’s chest and bowed before even registering who it was. 

“I’m really sorry!” He said loudly and there a slight pause before a deep laugh reassured him no one was angry. 

He looked up and finally saw who he’d bumped into. He couldn’t help but be intimidated, the man in front of him was a lot taller, with a handsome somehow shiny face and long drop-straight hair. He was familiar, but Hinata couldn’t quite pinpoint where he’d seen him.

“It’s no problem. You seem to be having a lot of fun,” he smiled at the two of them and Hinata had to resist the temptation to recoil back into Kageyama. 

There was just something wrong about this man. His deep, rich voice didn’t go with his polished and pale appearance. And his smile was too perfect, thin lips stretched over pearly white teeth, not a single crinkle next to his eyes - fake.

Hinata didn’t answer and Kageyama also seemed frozen in place. The man looked at them both with mild interest for few moments before stretching his lips a little more over his teeth. 

“I should leave you children to it. Enjoy yourselves.”

The man walked past them, powerful strides that led him away from them in only a few moments. 

“That was scary!” Hinata said, a bit too loudly for the distance between them. 

“Shut up!” Grumbled Kageyama, throwing a glance over his shoulder where the man was walking down the street before shoving Hinata through the Honeydukes’ door and into the sweetshop. 

Immediately the smell of chocolate, caramel, mint and all sorts of sweets wafted through Hinata’s nostrils and he let out a satisfied sigh. He felt much better. 

“You getting anything?” Kageyama asked, pushing him forward so he could also make it through the door. 

“Duh.”

He bounded around the shop, Kageyama trailing after him. He finally decided to get some chocolate frogs, peppermint toads, fudge flies and fizzing frisbees. His arms full, he sped over to the counter and dropped them down in front of the overwhelmed looking cashier.

Hinata reached into his robes for his wallet and then froze. He fished around his pockets. Nothing. What the hell? He was sure he put his wallet in there. 

“Are you alright?” The young girl behind the counter looked at him concerned and he stared up at her. 

“I can’t find my money!” He said and he practically feel Kageyama rolling his eyes behind him. 

He looked at the pile of sweets sadly.

“I’ll just go put these back.”  


He was about to take them all again when he was yanked back. Kageyama pulled Hinata to the side and let out a sigh as he cast his eye over all the goodies. 

“You’re gonna get fat,” he said and then looked at the confused girl. “How much?”

“Um, that’ll be three Galleons.”

“Here.” Kageyama chucked three of the gold coins on the counter and then pushed Hinata forward. 

Hinata stared at the pile of sweets and then looked back at Kageyama who scowled at him. 

“Didn’t you want them?”  


“Kageyama!” Hinata suddenly leapt up and wrapped his arms around Kageyama. 

“H-hey!” Kaegyama stumbled backwards slightly, his a face turned bright red as Hinata hugged him. 

Hinata bounced back and smiled widely up at him. 

“Thank you!” He spun back to the cashier and shoved all his sweets into a paper bag. “Let’s go Kageya-!”

Hinata looked around. That was weird. Kageyama was gone. 

“Where did he go?” Hinata mumbled and then suddenly scowled. “He didn’t wait for me?! No, he bought me stuff, I should be nice…”  


He trailed off. Kageyama wouldn’t have left him. They didn’t abandon each other like that. He was probably just outside or something. Or maybe he was annoyed that he had to pay for Hinata’s food. But it wasn’t like he’d asked him!

“Kageyama!” He said loudly, just to check. 

“Stop yelling.” Kageyama stuck his head over one of the shelves and looked around before motioning for Hinata to come. 

Hinata frowned, confused. 

“You’re being weird.”

“Look,” Kageyama said quietly, pointing to behind the counter where the door to the cellar was open. 

And in the cellar there was-

“A secret passa-?!”

Kageyama clapped his hand over Hinata’s mouth and glared at him. 

“Shut up and look!”

Hinata stared and gaped when he suddenly saw Oikawa climb up out the passage into the cellar. The older boy looked around and then frowned. Silently the Slytherin stepped back down and Hinata craned his neck. He could just see Oikawa wave his wand before disappearing into the darkness again. 

Both Hinata and Kageyama were silent before Hinata became aware of Kageyama’s arm that was wrapped around him. The hand that hand been covering his mouth had fallen and was now resting on his shoulder. It felt nice, comforting. Hinata’s face turned red and he quickly pushed Kageyama’s arm off. Why would he think that?

Kageyama didn’t even seem to notice, fixated on the passage. Without warning he stood up and swiftly made his way to the counter. 

The girl that had just served them looked bored, flicking through some random magazine. 

“Kageyama!” Hissed Hinata and Kageyama ignored him.

Hinata gritted his teeth and as quietly as could, crept forward. Kageyama looked over his shoulder and scowled when he saw Hinata slowly making his way towards him. Kageyama scowled at him all the time, but for some reason Hinata felt his heart drop a little at this one. He wasn’t sure why. 

“Bakageyama,” he muttered to himself. 

Kageyama didn’t bother waiting for him, as the Hufflepuff dropped down into the cellar and Hinata couldn’t see him anymore. Hinata’s swallowed and his eyes stung a little. He was always left behind whenever Oikawa appeared. It was frustrating. He made it to the stairs that led down the cellar without being noticed and made his way down. 

He stared at the large opening. He couldn’t see anything down there, it was too dark. Kageyama had probably already left. All of a sudden there was a large grating sound and a slab stone of stone Hinata hadn’t even noticed was there began to slide to cover the opening. 

“Ah wait!” In a panic Hinata lurched forward. 

His foot caught on the edge of a box and he stumbled. He couldn’t catch himself and fell right through the opening. 

“Waaaah!” He squeezed his eyes shut and braced himself for the impact. 

He hit something hard, and grunted. It hadn’t been nearly as bad as he thought it was going to be. 

“Forget what I said about those sweets.”  


“Huh?!” Hinata opened his eyes and Kageyama’s face was right in front of his. 

Out of reflex Hinata yelled out and pushed at him.

“Hey!”  


Something tightened around him and he suddenly realised what position he was in. He was _in Kageyama’s arms_. What the hell? What what what? He face immediately turned bright red. He had been pretty sure he’d put his feelings about Kageyama behind him but his heart was not agreeing. The damn thing was going absolutely crazy. 

Kageyama lowered him to the ground and Hinata quickly stood up. 

“You caught me?”

“I almost didn’t.”

“Huh?”

“You’re so heavy. It’s already too late for you so you might as well eat all those sweets.”

“You’re saying I’m fat?” Hinata immediately forgot his embarrassment in his outrage. “You’re the one who bought them!”

“Shouldn’t you be thanking me for catching you?” Kageyama didn’t look at him and Hinata gritted his teeth. 

“I didn’t ask you to! I would’ve been fine.”  


“I should’ve just let you fall,” muttered Kageyama and Hinata glared at him. 

He didn’t want to look at Kageyama’s annoyingly handsome face anymore. His eyes had finally got used to the dark and he looked around. The passage looked was made of out stone and there were two paths from where they were. Hinata began to feel a little excited. 

This was like an adventure. 

“Shall we explore?” He asked, already forgetting he was supposed to be mad at his friend. 

Kageyama looked surprised but then grinned back. “Okay.”

“Which way?” Mumbled Hinata.

He looked to the left. That was the way Oikawa had gone. 

“Which way did that shitty emperor go?” Grumbled Kageyama. “I wanna see what he’s up to.”  


Hinata pointed to the right. 

“I think he went this way.”  


“Let’s go that way then.”

Kageyama strode out ahead and Hinata was about to follow him when he felt something brush against his ear. 

**_Liar_**.

“Eeeeek!” He screamed out and swatted at the air. 

Nothing. He squinted but he still couldn’t see anything. What was that? 

“Hinata?” He saw Kageyama looking back at him with a raised eyebrow.

“Didn’t you hear that?”

Kageyama stared at him blankly. 

“Hear what?”  


Had he imagined it? He swallowed nervously. It couldn’t have been…a ghost? Immediately his heart rate sped up. He didn’t like ghosts. They terrified him. It had taken him three years to get used to the Hogwarts ones and they still managed to make him jump. 

“Let’s go.”

He could hear the annoyance in Kageyama’s voice and he quickly ran to catch up with him. It had just been his imagination. Ghosts may be magic but they definitely weren’t mind readers. Maybe it was just his guilty conscious. He bit his lip, well it wasn’t like he was doing something terrible. 

And maybe Oikawa had turned around and gone this way! A poor excuse but whatever.

 

______________________________________________________________

 

Yamaguchi didn’t know why he’d come to Honeydukes. He’d just been bored he supposed. Usually he was pretty good at dealing with his boredom. He’d been more than bored. He’d been restless. His mind kept returning to what had happened the other day. He’d never had anything like that happen to him before. Was it something to do with stress? OWLs were this year. 

Stress-induced hallucinating? Maybe that was it. Should he talk to someone about it? He didn’t really want to though. It would only draw attention to him. He definitely didn’t want that. Maybe he should wait a bit, if they were stress-related they’d eventually stop right. And it had only happened twice. Or was it three? 

The smell of baking wafted through the street and Yamaguchi suddenly found himself craving something sweet. He turned on his heel and made his way to Honeydukes. 

When he got there, the famous sweetshop was bustling. He swallowed nervously and considered just turning around and coming back later. He wasn’t a massive fan of crowds. Then he steeled himself and pushed open the door. It him fifteen minutes to get close to the actual goodies and even when he’d managed to get what he wanted it was another fifteen before he paid for them. 

He escaped to the outside and let out a sigh of relief. He peaked inside his bag and smiled at the pumpkin pastries and chocolate wands inside. Pumpkin pastries were Tsukki’s favourite. They were his favourite too and Yamaguchi held on to the one of the only things they shared. 

“Yamaguchi I didn’t think you were coming today.”

He looked up and immediately smiled. 

“Yachi, hello.”

She smiled back at him and then began to walk down the street together.

“I thought you were staying at Hogwarts this time.”  


“I was going to,” admitted Yamaguchi.

“But?”

He shrugged. “I just got bored."

Yachi looked surprised and then laughed. “I’d expect that from Hinata but I didn’t know you could be so spontaneous Yamaguchi!”

Yamaguchi wasn’t sure how to take that.

“It’s a compliment!” Yachi assured him with a giggle.

“Thanks then.”

“Tsukishima isn’t around?” She asked and Yamaguchi shrugged.

“I’m not sure where he is.”

“Oh. Well you’re not the only one who was dumped.”

“I wasn’t dumped!” Yamaguchi quickly protested and Yachi held up her hands.

“Sorry! Sorry! How about left behind?”  


It felt like someone had just squeezed Yamaguchi’s heart. Tight.

“That’s even worse,” he said quietly.

“Yamaguchi?” Yachi’s eyes widened and she immediately bowed. “I’m sorry! I was just kidding!”

“I know,” Yamaguchi smiled sadly at her. “I know.”

“Oh well. I was just going to say Hinata ran off without me too. He’s always running after Kageyama don’t you think?”

Yamaguchi opened his mouth and then paused. It didn’t look that way to him. Hinata didn’t run after Kageyama, he ran _to_ Kageyama. And Kageyama didn’t show it as obviously, but he was always seemed to appear besides Hinata. It was more like they were running towards each other.

“I don’t know.”  


“Hm, well. I have to do some shopping. You want to come?” Yachi stopped outside a book shop and turned to face Yamaguchi. 

He shook his head.

“Maybe next time?”

“Okay. I’ll see you around.”

Yamaguchi suddenly remembered his bag of sweets. “Hey Yachi.”

“Yeah?”

“Would you like a chocolate wand?”

She smiled brightly at him. “Really? I’d love one!”

He handed her one and they smiled at each other.

“Thanks!”  


“Bye.”

He waved at her and looked down the street. If he kept walking he would end up at the Shrieking Shack. He didn’t really want to go there. That place was creepy. He looked back up the street and then suddenly caught sight of a familiar tall figure.

“Tsukki!” He called out before he could stop himself and the Slytherin paused and looked towards him. 

Immediately Yamaguchi remembered his fainting from a few days ago. It was still a bit awkward between the two of them, with Yamaguchi wondering if he should bring it up and Tsukishima seemingly ignoring it had ever happened. 

He quickly shook his thoughts away and crossed the street. He was going to put it behind him. If Tsukki was ignoring what had happened, so was he. 

“Hello.”

“Hey.”

“What are you doing here Tsukki?” Yamaguchi asked, curious.

Tsukki shrugged, “Had nothing better to do.”

“You should have told me. We could have gone together.”

“You said you weren’t going.”

“Oh yeah,” Yamaguchi smiled bashfully. “I did, didn’t I?”

“So what are you doing here?”

“Oh, well…” Yamaguchi wasn’t sure how to answer that and looked at Tsukki. “I was bored, I suppose.”

“I see."  


Yamaguchi looked at Tsukishima. He’d noticed this before but today it was even more obvious. Tsukki looked terrible. He was awfully pale, even for winter, and he looked absolutely exhausted. He had dark circles, and the whites of his eyes were covered with tiny red lines as if his eyes were come kind of muggle map. 

“Are you okay Tsukki?”

“What?”

“It’s just…” Yamaguchi suddenly felt like he shouldn’t have asked. “You look a little tired?”

“It’s nothing.”

“O-okay.”

It didn’t look like nothing but Yamaguchi didn’t want to push it. Tsukki never pushed him. He should show him the same courtesy. Although sometimes it felt more like Tsukishima just wasn’t interested. Yamaguchi didn’t like to dwell on it.

“Let’s go back.” Tsukishima said suddenly and Yamaguchi looked at him in surprise.

“Are you sure?”  


Tsukki didn’t say anything and started to walk back in the direction of the castle. Yamaguchi quickly hurried after him. He fell into step just a little behind Tsukki and shoved his hands into his robes. 

“Do you want to go to the library?”

“No,” Tsukishima said. 

“Oh okay,” Yamaguchi bit his lip. “Well, I don’t really mind where we go Tsukki so I’ll just follow you.”

Tsukishima turned back slightly to look at him and he frowned slightly. Yamaguchi swallowed, oh no, he’d said something wrong again. Tsukki looked like he wanted to say something but he just looked at Yamaguchi for a few moments, before walking forward again.

“Tsukki?” Yamaguchi asked and Tsukihima sighed. 

“I’m going to the common room."  


“The common room?” Yamaguchi repeated and his heart dropped. “Oh right, the common room.”

That was a pretty clear way of saying Tsukki didn’t want Yamaguchi around. That hurt quite a bit more than Yamaguchi expected. He’d always thought they were friends, sure maybe their relationship was a bit one-sided. But he didn’t mind putting in a bit more effort if it meant they spent more time together. He hadn’t considered Tuskki’s feelings. Maybe Tsukkishima didn’t want to spend that much time with him. 

“Why do you look so depressed?”

“Sorry Tsukki! I was just thinking about where to go.”

Tsukishima frowned again, “You said you’d follow me.”

“Um, yeah but I totally get it if you want some time by yourself…”

“Okay…” Tsukishima seemed unconcerned which only fuelled Yamaguchi’s rambling.

“I know we’ve been spending a lot of time together and it can get a bit annoying maybe. I can just hang out with Yachi instead-“

“Come to the common room."

“It’s fine I’ll just–what?” Yamaguchi finally registered what Tsukki had said and stared at him. “T-t-t-the Slytherin c-c-c-common room?!”

Tsukki raised an eyebrow and glared at him. “You don’t want to?”  


“No no no! I do!” Yamaguchi suddenly felt like a weight had lifted off his shoulders. 

He also felt rather silly. Of course they were friends. And Tsukki did want to hang out with him. At least somewhat. This was just the way Tsukishima was. Yamaguchi shook his head at himself, it shouldn’t matter that he put in a little more effort - that was the way it had always been.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> very very late


	13. Going Places

The sun was rising. It rose from the green hills and made its way up into the sky until its rays began to peak into a room at the top of large tower. The curtains of the window weren’t closed, which was unusual because everyday for the past four and bit years they had been. As the sun continued to climb up in the sky, a ray of sun shone right in through the window and onto the sleeping face of a boy. 

The boy crunched his eyes shut and turned over. Another ray joined and he groaned. 

His eyes suddenly shot open and he stared over at the bed next to him. It was empty. 

“Yamaguchi’s gone!!” Hinata screamed. 

The peace of the Gryffindor Tower was shattered in one fell swoop. 

 

~

 

“Hinata will you calm down?”

“Where’s Yamaguchi? Has he been kidnapped? Maybe he got lost in the Forbidden Forest and got eaten by an evil-“

“Why would he even be in the Forbidden Forest?”

“I don’t know!” Wailed Hinata. “He’s not here is he?”

“Relax, I’m sure he’s fine.”

“He probably just fell asleep in the library again.”

A small group has assembled in the Gryffindor common room as Hinata sulked on the sofa. 

“Why aren’t you guys more worried?”  


Misaki sat down next to him and patted his shoulder. 

“Like Ujiie said, he probably just fell asleep at the library. He’s not the type to go and do anything dangerous.”  


“He’s pretty boring,” Tanaka nodded and Misaki glared at him. 

“He’s not stupid, unlike some people.” 

She turned her glare to Nishinoya who looked offended. 

“I didn’t even say anything.”

“Just try not to worry okay?”

“Yeah, that frown doesn’t suit you.” Ujiie bopped Hinata on the head. “It ain’t like you to be so hung up over this.”

“Well, it’s just Yamaguchi had this thing the other day and I thought maybe it happened again…” Hinata was starting to mutter.

He didn’t think it was his place to say anything about Yamaguchi’s fainting spell the other day. Yamaguchi would tell people if he wanted to. But what if it had happened again? And he’d fallen and hit his head and rolled down a hill and-

“Besides.” Tanaka said, “How could anything bad have happened to that kid? He’s literally stuck to Tsukishima like glue.”  


Hinata perked up immediately. 

“That’s true.”  


Yamaguchi did usually spend the weekends with Tsukishima. And if something happened to Yamaguchi, Tsukishima would have done something. They had probably just gone to the library and Yamaguchi had just fallen asleep there. Feeling much better, Hinata jumped of the sofa. 

“Okay, I’m going to stop worrying.”  


“Good attitude.” Nishinoya gave Hinata the thumbs up and Tanaka cackled. 

“Aren’t I the best? All you needed was my encouragement and you were back on your feet.”  


“Yes! Thanks Tanaka!”

“HAHAHA! I AM THE BEST!” Tanaka ripped off his shirt and began to spin it around his head. 

“Woo Ryuu!” Nishinoya laughed and cheered for him. 

“You are!” Hinata clapped his hands, completely putting his worries behind him. 

“I’m surrounded by idiots…” muttered Misaki as Ujiie pulled out a camera. 

“Why is everyone so loud in the morning?” 

Everyone turned to where the voice had come from. A tired looking Daichi ambled down the stairs, rubbing his face. He got to the bottom and finally opened his eyes properly. He stared at the scene in front of him. 

Hinata swallowed nervously. Tanaka had somehow migrated from the floor to the coffee table, and Ujiie was standing on the sofa, camera extended towards him. Tanaka’s shirt slipped through his fingers and gracefully floated to the floor. 

“Hey Captain!” Nishinoya, who was sitting in the one of the chairs, gave a little wave. 

“Tanaka. What are you doing?”

“I’m sorry.”  


There was a click and Ujiie laughed.  


“That’s a good once.”  


“Ujiie, let’s go.” Misaki stood up and smiled at the head boy. 

“Good morning Daichi.”  


“I was hoping it would be,” Daichi grumbled and she laughed. 

“Can we have some Quidditch training today?” Hinata bounded over to him and Daichi shook his head. 

“Slytherin have booked the court for the day.”  


Hinata wilted and Daichi ruffled his hair affectionately. 

“We have it tomorrow.”  


“Yes!” Hinata cheered and grinned at Daichi, his eyes shinning. “We’re going to win again this year.”  


“Of course.” Daichi smiled confidently and Hinata immediately felt motivation course through his body tenfold. 

“Oh by the way Captain,” Tanaka had pulled his shirt back and looked over the top of Hinata’s had to address Daichi. “How was your date yesterday?”  


“Oh good question Ryuu.” Nishinoya high-fived his friend and they both turned to Daichi who’s face had turned red. 

“You had a date?” Hinata blinked and his eyes widened. “With who?!”  


“I did not,” Daichi gritted out. 

“Sure, sure.” Tanaka waved a hand in an overly dismissive motion.  


“You just wish it was…with lovely and sweet Su–” Nishinoya cackled and Daichi lunged at him. 

“Wah!” Nishinoya jumped out of the way and grabbed Tanaka by the arm. “That’s our cue! See you later Hinata!”

They two of them made a lap of the common room before running down the stairs, with Daichi chasing after them. 

“Okay!” Hinata squished his face together. “Let’s do this!”

He ran back to his room to grab his robe and then made his way all the way down. His stomach grumbled and he started to smell toast and sausages. He grinned and broke it onto a run. He’d almost made it to the hall when someone turned the corner and ran right into his back. 

“Owww,” he whinged. 

Why was he always running into people?! He looked up and immediately recognised that glare. 

“Why are you running dumbass?”  


“Because I’m hungry genius!”  


“Is your brain really so small that you can only concentrate on doing one thing at a time?”  


“No!” Hinata glared back at him and then his stomach rumbled again. 

Kageyama’s gaze was drawn to it and Hinata’s face turned red. 

“I-i told you!” He said, crossing his arms defensively. 

Kageyama snorted. “You’re such a kid.”  


“I’m older than you!”  


“Let’s go.” 

Kageyama pushed him into the Hall and began to walk over to the Hufflepuff table. Hinata followed after him and sat down next to him. 

“Do you have Quidditch practice today?” 

He immediately started to tuck in, grabbing various foods and piling them up on his plate. Kageyama mimicked him and shook his head. 

“Not today. We’ve got it tomorrow.”  


“Cool. I wanna play soon!” Hinata’s eyes widened in excitement just thinking about it and he felt Kageyama nod besides him. 

They finished off their breakfast and Hinata checked his timetable. 

“Defence Against the Dark Arts, and we class together then.” Hinata grinned at Kageyama who nodded back.

“Let’s go.”  


They stood up and Hinata waved to the Gryffindor table where Nishinoya and Tanaka were both sulking as Daichi stood over them, lecturing. They started to walk out together and Hinata suddenly remembered something. He looked around surreptitiously, even though there was no one close enough to eavesdrop, he leant closer to Kageyama. 

“Do you want to go exploring later?”

Kageyama looked at him and Hinata could see his own enthusiasm reflected back in Kageyama’s eyes. He grinned. 

“Yeah. Let’s do it during lunch.”  


“Yay!” Hinata jumped away and cheered.

“You’re so loud.” Kageyama rubbed his ears but there was a smirk on his face.

“Oh by the way.” Hinata chose to ignore that little jab, he was way too happy for anything to bring him down. “Have you cast your patronus yet?”

Kageyama’s eye twitched as he stared at the shorter boy. 

“Have you?”  


“I asked you first!”  


“Yeah well I’m asking you too.”  


“I asked you first, you answer first.”  


“I asked you just now so you should answer now.”  


“Fine. Well I’ve got it!” Hinata blatantly lied and Kageyama immediately looked scandalised. 

After a moment of hesitation, Kageyama crossed his arms superiorly.  


“I’ve already cast it plenty of times.”  


“So you don’t-wait…You have?” Hinata’s voice went quiet and Kageyama looked at him. 

He nodded quickly. 

“Um, yeah. Of course, if you’ve got it, I’ve got it.”  


“Yeah, yeah I’ve totally got it.”  


Shit. He really hadn’t thought this through. And if Kageyama had already cast his, he couldn’t possible admit that he hadn’t been able to conjure more than some white mist.

“At the count of three then?” 

Oh well, might as well bite the bullet. Kageyama opened his mouth and closed it again. Hinata stared at him confused, if he was him, he wouldn’t have hesitated to show off the fact that he’d been able to cast a corpeal Patronus. 

“Come on. Let’s do it!”  


“I’m gonna do it. I’ve done it before.” Kageyama wouldn’t meet Hinata’s eye and the Gryffindor scowled. 

Did he think he was so much better because he could cast a corpeal patronus? Wait a minute, Kageyama thought he could also cast one. Damn it, why couldn’t he have just stayed quiet? But then Kageyama would have brought it up because he could obviously cast one.

“Can you two please stop shouting?” An annoyed-looking girl poked her head out of the wall and Hinata nodded at her apologetically.

“Sorry.”  


They stared at each other and then Hinata let out an ear-splitting scream and scurried behind Kageyama, pushing the Hufflepuff forward. 

“Ghost! It’s a ghost! A ghost!” He managed to get out, clinging to the back of Kageyama’s robes as memories of an incident he kept trying to forget tugged at the corners of mind. 

“Why’re you so scared dumbass there’s ghosts everywhere, they’re–” Kageyama’s voice died when he turned his head slightly and caught sight of Hinata quivering behind him. 

Hinata knew he looked like such an idiot. What kind of wizard was scared of ghosts? It wasn’t even a poltergeist, it was just a plain old ghost. But they terrified him. They made him want to curl up under the covers of his bed and never come out. He clung to Kageyama even tighter, his breath coming out in shorter breaths. 

“I think you should go.” Kageyama’s voice was cold when he told the girl who looked offended. 

She floated out of the wall and Hinata peaked out from behind Kageyama. She was a young girl, just a child, she couldn’t have been older than ten. She stared at Hinata and as soon as her flat grey eyes met his, his heart dropped and his whole body froze. Those cold grey iries, the dull pupils, she was just like them.

He breath caught in his throat and Kageyama suddenly stepped in front of him, shielding him from it. 

“Hm.” The ghost girl snorted. “You’re telling me to leave when you two were the ones making the racket.”  


Kageyama didn’t answer and there was silence for a few moments. Hinata stayed behind Kageyama trying to regain control of his breathing. All of a sudden, she spoke again. 

“I know you.” She said and Hinata felt Kageyama tense up. 

“I’ve never seen you before.”  


“Hm. That’s true and not true.”  


“That doesn’t make any sense.” Kageyama snapped and Hinata winced. 

What if she got angry?

“I guess you don’t get it. You are just a kid."  


“Shut up.” Hinata couldn’t see Kageyama’s face but he was pretty sure he was glaring. “Go away, don’t you have better things to do?”

He imagined it, dark eyes and stormy expression. Oddly enough, it made him feel a little better and even a little braver. Not brave enough to have another look though.

“I’ll help you out. It’ll make him angry so it’s a bonus for me.”

Hinata couldn’t see what the ghost girl was doing but Kageyama grabbed his arm and pushed him to the right. He tripped and stumbled to the floor, turning his head just in time to see the ghost pass through Kageyama and his friend collapse to the ground.

“Kageyama!” He yelled and stared at the ghost.

He wanted to yell at her, he wanted to run at her and scream but the words stuck in his throat and his legs were jelly. He couldn’t even get up. He was so weak. Stupid, stupid, it had happened so long ago and he was still like this. And Kageyama had…he’d _protected_ him. He felt tears stinging his eyes and the ghost girl continued to stare at him.

“Be careful.” She said and he looked up at her. 

“What?” He croaked. 

“Be careful of him. He’s looking for you.” 

With that, she disappeared back into the wall. Hinata swallowed. Breathe, Hinata, breathe. After a few moments of calming himself down, he crawled over to Kageyama, his heart in his stomach. Ghosts couldn’t actually hurt humans right? It was just shock. 

“Kageyama,” he shook his shoulder. 

He was such a bad friend, maybe there wasn’t anything he could’ve have done to a ghost, but he could have at least stood by Kageyama. A single tear rolled down his cheek and before he could wipe it away, Kageyama opened his eyes. 

“Kageyama!” Hinata wailed and without thinking he wrapped his arms around the Hufflepuff and squeezed him tightly. “I thought you were dead.”

“If I was dead I’d definitely come back and haunt you.” Kageyama groaned. “What kind of idiot is scared of ghosts?”  


“Lots of muggles.” Hinata quickly wiped his eyes and Kageyama stared at him. 

“Are you,” his eyes widened, “crying?"  


“No!” Hinata pushed him and Kageyma winced, immediately Hinata checked the back of his head. “Are you hurt anywhere?”  


“I’m fine.” Kageyama grumbled and pushed Hinata’s fingers away. “I just…”  


He trailed off, his long fingers still holding Hinata’s, who’s face turned slightly red when he realised.

“What’s wrong?”  


“Nothing.” Kageyama looked confused and he dropped Hinata’s hand. “We’re friends right?”  


“Yeah,” Hinata cocked his head to the side. “What else would we be?”  


A strange expression flitted across Kageyama's face and he suddenly winced. He brought a hand to his head as he groaned slightly, obviously in pain. Hinata immediately started to panic, what was wrong? Was it something he said? Something about being friends? What if Kageyama didn't want to be friends anymore? Hinata was aware in his panic his thoughts were spiralling out of control but he couldn't help asking:

“Or don’t you want to be friends because I abandoned you? I’m sorry Kageyama, I was just so spooked!”

Kageyama scowled, “if you say we’re friends, we’re friends dumbass.”

“But I couldn’t protect you…” Hinata trailed off, still feeling upset.

Kageyama snorted, “I don’t need protecting. This is school, not a battlefield.”  


“But…” Hinata wasn’t sure what to say, and the concoction of emotions swirling inside him wasn’t helping.

Kageyama lifted a hand and in an uncharacteristically gentle gesture ruffled Hinata’s hair. 

“I’ll take care of you if you’re so scared.”  


“Huh?”

“I said if you’re an idiot for being scared of ghosts.”  


“I know…”  


“Forget about it. If you can cast a patronus it’ll chase the ghosts off anyways.”  


“Right…"  


Hinata couldn’t help but feel depressed. He couldn’t cast a patronus. As if today hadn’t been embarrassing enough he now had to admit to Kageyama he hadn’t been able to master the spell he’d just moments ago said he had.

“And you’ve always got me.”  


Hinata looked up and Kageyama’s face had turned red. He stared at him and oddly felt himself calming down. He grinned widely. 

“Yeah.”  


“Okay. So let’s do this.” Kageyama pushed himself to his feet and his eyes glinted competitively as he looked down at Hinata. 

Hinata bounced to feet and stared back at him. There wouldn’t be any harm in trying, even if he did end up failing pathetically.  


“Alright!” 

Hinata pulled his wand out of his sleeve. Alright, happy thoughts. Precious memories. He closed his eyes and visualised wining the Quidditch Cup again. Slowly the memory transformed to one of Kageyama and his practice sessions. Flying around, pushing each other to the limits. 

“Expecto patronum!”

White mist poured out from his wand and Hinata concentrated as hard as he could. It still didn’t take shape. The mist slowed and a few small clouds puffed out as Hinata frowned in disappointment. He looked at Kageyama out of the corner of his eye, who didn’t seem to be having much luck either.

_You’ve always got me._

All of a sudden his wand puffed out a large cloud which morphed into something. Hinata’s eyes widened in delight as dolphin jumped out from the white mist and started to swim through the air around him. 

“Kageyama I did it! I did it!” 

He smiled in delight at his friend, who scowled back in response surrounded in white mist. Kageyama waved his wand in an attempt to dispel the mist and all of a sudden a small bird burst out from the tip. 

Hinata gaped as it flew around, and soon his dolphin joined it, looping around the air. 

“What even is yours?” Hinata looked at Kageyama who was still staring at his patronus as though he’d never seen it before. 

“Huh?” Kageyama scowled at him. “You can’t tell? You really are a dumbass.”  


“What’s mine then?”  


“A fish.” Kageyama said confidently and Hinata spluttered. 

“It’s not a fish! It’s a dolphin!”  


“Looks like a fish."  


“If mine is a fish, yours’ is a pigeon!”  


“It’s not a pigeon!” Kageyama looked outraged. “It’s a crow!”  


“Crows aren’t white!”  


“Dolphins aren’t white either dumbass!”  


“What do the two of you think you’re doing?!”  


Kageyama and Hinata both jumped as Professor Yachi glared at the two of them, her arms crossed.

“It’s Yachi’s mum.” Hinata whispered to Kageyama and she raised an eyebrow.  


“That’s Professor to you Hinata.”

“Sorry, Professor.”

“Dumbass.”  


“Kageyama there’s no need for that kind of language,” she stared down at the two of them as the last of their patronus’ disappeared into the air. “Congratulations you two, Irihata told me you were struggling with the charm. I see it’s no longer an issue.”  


“No, Professor.” They both said, grinning at each other. 

“Right, off to class the both of you.”

“Yes, Professor. Bye!” Hinata immediately started to walk away, Kageyama swiftly following. 

He was just about to sigh a breath of relief what Professor Yachi called out to the two of them. 

“Oh and boys. Detention.”

 

______________________________________________________________

 

Yamaguchi opened his eyes and frowned. He didn’t recognise this place. This definitely wasn’t his dorm room. He sat up in the bed and looked around. He only needed a single glance around the room for everything to come rushing back to him.

One side of the room was covered by a large green curtain and thankfully the four other beds were empty. He’d fallen asleep in the Slytherin common room. But…he looked around again and then down. This wasn’t the common room. He was in a bed. 

He jumped when stones at the end of the room suddenly folded in on each other and Tsukishima walked through the door-size gap that formed. He looked up to see Yamaguchi staring at him in shock. 

“You’re awake.”  


“Y-yeah.” Yamaguchi nodded and Tsukkishima raised an eyebrow as the Gryffindor continued to gape at him. 

“Are you going to get up?”  


“Um, yeah.”

He pulled off the covers and stood up, smoothing out the crinkles from sleeping in shirt. 

“What happened?” He asked and Tsukishima raised an eyebrow at him, casually making his way over to the trunk at the foot of the bed.

“With what?”  


“I mean how did I get in here?” His eyes widened as he stared at Tsukki. “Did you carry me?”  


“It wasn’t that hard.” Tsukishima shrugged unconcernedly as he rummaged through the trunk, finally pulling out a long dark robe and throwing it over his shoulders. “You’re a lot smaller than  me.”  


In that moment, Yamaguchi felt absolutely tiny. Tsukki’s tone was like he was chastising him. He couldn’t help it. He wasn’t even that short, not compared to someone as tiny as Hinata, it was just Tsukki was so tall. 

“Well, um, thank you.”  


“Whatever. It was too much of a hassle to wake you up. You’re a deep sleeper."  


Yamaguchi cocked his head to the side slightly. Everyone always told him he was particularly light sleeper. Then again, he hadn’t woken up when Tsukki had carried him here, and by the sounds of it he hadn’t been particularly careful. 

“I guess,” he said doubtfully, still feeling rather embarrassed. 

Tsukishima eyed him but didn’t say anything. Instead pulling another robe out of his trunk, instead turning around and walking back towards the wall, of which the gap had now disappeared. Yamaguchi quickly turned around and pulled the covers back over the bed. 

He was such an idiot. He couldn’t believed he’d fallen asleep. They’d got back from Hogsmeade and almost immediately Tsukki had started to study. Yamaguchi had considered talking to him, but decided he didn’t really want to bother him. So he’d sat down on one of the sofas and pulled out a book of his own. And then he’d just drifted off. He should apologise.

“Are you coming?”  


“Ah!” He spun around to see Tsukishima leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. 

He was really handsome. Yamaguchi’s face exploded into bright red as soon as that thought crossed his head. What was he thinking? He shook his head as if that would shake it out.

“So-sorry Tsukki!” He managed to get out before quickly trotting over. 

He paused and stared at the wall. There had been a gap here he was sure of it. Wait a minute, when Tsukki had first come in the stones had moved. 

“Move back,” Tsukishima pulled Yamaguchi back a little and then tapped, what seemed to be, random stones in the wall.

Yamaguchi watched with baited breath as slowly the stones folded, spinning round and across the wall, to form a large doorway. 

“That’s amazing,” Yamaguchi whispered and he couldn’t help but giggle slightly, magic was the best. 

“It’s not bad,” said Tsukishima and Yamaguchi’s head flipped round to stare at him. Tsukishima hated magic. He’d always hated anything magical, or even just a little enchanted. Sometimes 

Yamaguchi would just see him glaring at one of the moving paintings. 

Tsukishima didn’t say anything more and just walked through the doorway, and Yamaguchi quickly slipped through behind him. Almost immediately, the stones began to fold back into place. 

They walked up a winding staircase lined with a silver handrail which when they reached the top of the stairs gave Yamaguchi a nasty shock by moving as the, what he’d assumed was the decorative snakehead at the end of the rail, moved. It rose up and stared at the two of them with emerald eyes. 

“Passssssword,” it hissed at the two and Yamaguchi blinked. 

You needed a password to get out? That seemed a little excessive. 

Tsukishima looked at him and then let out a sigh. 

“Kuroo did it in third year. Something about someone stealing his mail.”  


“Someone was stealing letters?”  


Tsukki snorted. “Doubt it. He was just being dumb.”

“Passssssword pleasssssse,” the snake repeated itself.

Tsukishima looked extremely pained and Yamaguchi immediately started to worry. 

“Tsukki are you okay?”  


“I will be when that moron resets the password.”  


“Huh? The password?”  


It couldn’t be that bad right?  


Tsukishima muttered and Yamaguchi stared at him. There was no way the snake would be able to hear that, magical or not.

The snake hissed and shook its head, and Yamaguchi was pretty sure it was grinning at the two of them. 

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Tsukishima glared at it and then basically gritted out. “Yamaguchi, this snake is here."  


Yamaguchi blinked a little thrown that Tsukishima was suddenly talking to him. 

“Um yeah I know?” He said, it was a little hard to miss. 

“That’sssssss right,” the snake hissed and the door swung open. 

That was the password. The silver snake is here? How stupid.

“That’s kinda a stupid password,” he said. 

“Yeah,” Tsukishima swallowed and quickly strode through the open door. “Really dumb.”

Yamaguchi blinked. Was the reason Tssuki hadn’t wanted to say it because Yamaguchi would then know it? It was pretty understandable he guessed. He may be Tsukki’s friend but they were still in different houses. The two most opposite houses even. He sighed. 

There was just always something wasn’t there?

 

______________________________________________________________

 

 

“Right everyone! Just observe! And then draw! Look closely, see all the intricacies of a living beautiful creature! Then look some more! The study of Magical creatures is one quarter running, one quarter treating your injuries and half just looking!”  


“He’s really selling it isn’t he?” Shirabu muttered, picking at the grass and then throwing it into the barrel where a murtlap was plodding around in some murky water. 

Kenma didn’t say anything, rocking back and forth on his toes as he tried to ignore the glaring boy next to him. 

Was there anything worse than group projects in a class where you didn’t have any friends? He’d ended up with two others who’d been so distracted arguing with each other they hadn’t noticed everyone else getting groups. 

Eventually they’d just been forced together. 

“Stop bothering ‘em,” the boy Kenma remembered being called Kyoutani glared at Shirabu. 

“Why? It’s not bothering you.”  


“It is."  


“Fuck off.”

“You fuck off.”

Kenma didn’t say anything and started tugging at the grass at his feet. 

“The two of you are heading for detention. You should be helping Kenma here, not squabbling like a bunch of jarveys,” Professor Irihata appeared behind them, making all three of them jump. 

“Behave both of you please. You’re sixth years, not first.”

“Sorry sir,” Shirabu looked a little chastened and then turned to Kenma. “Sorry.”  


Kenma blinked, surprised that the boy had even bothered to apologise to him at all. Maybe he was nicer than Kenma had thought. 

“Whatever,” muttered Kyoutani as the Professor wondered over to deal with someone who’d stuck their hand in the barrel and now had the murtlap attached to them.

“So Kenma,” Shirabu very pointedly ignored Kyoutani. “How’s the Tournament?”  


Kenma paused for a moment, even more surprised that now Shirabu was even talking to him at all.

“Um, it’s fine,” he said hesitantly and Shirabu nodded.  


“It looked intense, even Ushijima struggled. You did great though.” Shirabu smiled at him and Kenma was suddenly struck by the fact he was actually very attractive. 

And surprisingly nice. 

“Thanks,” Kenma shifted and stared back into the barrel. 

The murtlap hadn’t moved. 

“This is so fucking boring,” Kyoutani grumbled and Kenma silently agreed with him. 

“Yeah,” Shirabu seemed to have calmed down, and was now no longer as argumentative.

“You play Quidditch Kenma?” Shirabu asked. 

Unbidden memories of summers spent being forced to fly around on a broom, chasing after Quaffles and snitches swam to the surface. Kenma shook his head. 

“Not really.”  


“That’s a shame. Quidditch is a big deal here.”  


“The Quidditch Cup needs to start already,” Kyoutani joined the conversation and Shirabu actually nodded in agreement. 

“First intelligent thing you’ve said all day.”  


“Whatever.”

Shouyou played Quidditch. Actually that was a bit of an understatement; Shouyou lived, breathed and ** Quidditch. 

“Who has the best team?” Kenma asked, a little curious despite himself. 

“Tough question. Of course, I wanna say Slyth-”  


“It’s Gryffindor.” Kyoutani interrupted with a wolfish grin. “No contest.”

“Slytherin,” finished Shirabu with a glare. 

“Gryffindor.”  


“We’ve got Oikawa and Aone.”  


“Gryffindor’s got me.”  


“That’s helping my argument, not yours,” Shirabu shot back and Kyoutani glared at him. 

“Iwaizumi,” he said.

“Point is all the teams’ve got good players,” Shirabu said to Kenma. “Ravenclaw’s got, um let’s see, Ushijima’s really good and Akaashi is too. Gryffindor’s got a really good keeper.”  


“I see…”  


“Oh and for Slytherin we’ve got the best captain hands down. You know Kuroo Tetsuroo? That’s him. He basically built the Slytherin team up from nothing,” Shirabu said with a grin. 

Kuroo still played. Kenma smiled a little bitterly. Of course he was. He had his own life that Kenma wasn’t a part of, that he didn’t know anything about. Why was that so hard for him to accept?

He sighed and absentmindedly tapped the side of the barrel. He shouldn’t be thinking about Kuroo. He should really be thinking about that annoying riddle. He was pretty sure he could figure it out if he tried. But he didn’t want to. 

He’d have to think about the next task. He didn’t want to think about that, he just wanted to ignore it. Ignoring his problems, he knew, wasn’t a solution, but it was just so much easier than having to deal with them. 

“Alright everyone! I see your drawings are coming along swimmingly,” Professor Irihata chuckled to himself as he strolled to the front of the class. “Now, I have an announcement!”

“He’s so loud,” groaned Kyoutani  


“Like you can talk,” Shirabu shot back.

“Right! Everyone listening please!” Professor Irihata clapped his hands. “I’m sure you’ve all heard about the excursion to America but I’ll go through it one more time because we’ve still got some empty spots. In a couple of weeks, we will be going to America in order to have a look at some of the American magical creatures so that you can really get a feel for the diversity of the magical world. If you’d like to sign up, just put your full name here and we’ll go from there.” 

“Have you signed up Kenma?” Shirabu and Kenma shook his head, surprised.

“I didn’t think they’d say yes.”

“Too busy?” Shirabu nodded but then smiled. “Still, it might be nice to take a break. You’ve got a lot going on.”  


“Yeah.” Kenma said, his thoughts immediately turning to how uncomfortable and stressful it would be. 

“Akaashi is going,” Shirabu said. “You’re friends with him right?”

Kenma blinked at him and Shirabu raised an eyebrow. 

“That was what you worried about right? Having no friends? Something crazy eyes over there can I’m sure relate to.” 

Kyoutani growled at him but didn’t answer with any actual words.

Kenma didn’t say anything either and stared at the form. 

“Well,” Shirabu shrugged, “think about it.”

 

______________________________________________________________

 

 

Yachi scribbled down a few facts about the Goblin War that Mr. Binns slowly scrawled across the chalkboard. Every now and then the whole class would let out a collective wince as the chalk scrapped on the board. She sighed. For some reason she was finding History of Magic particularly boring today. 

“Yamaguchi,” she said, figuring at the rate Binns was going it was going to be a couple of years before he filled the board and had to erase any of what he was writing. 

Her friend didn’t answer her, staring idly at the board with his eyes unfocused. 

“Yamaguchi?” Yachi waved a hand in front of his face and still nothing. 

She lightly tapped his shoulder a little worried when he started at her touch. He stared at for a few moments and then visibly relaxed when his eyes focused on her. 

“Hey are you okay?” She asked, a small frown forming on her face as Yamaguchi’s shoulders slumped slightly. 

“Yeah, I’m fine.” 

Everything about him from his face, his posture and his tone of voice screamed the exact opposite. 

“Are you sure?” Yachi wasn’t sure whether to press it or not. 

It wasn’t like Yamaguchi to actually physically _show_ he was upset. Which must mean, he was really upset. To be honest, Yamaguchi’s moods tended to be so subtle it was often only weeks later Yachi would find out, he had been upset, angry or even just annoyed. He just disliked confrontation, she understood that. But still…it was unlike him to be so spacey. 

“Yeah, yeah…just thinking about something.”  


“Is it girl trouble?” Koganegawa popped up from behind the two of them and Yachi squeaked in shock whilst Yamaguchi almost tipped off his chair. 

“Koganegawa…” Yachi stared at him her eyes wide. “How long have you been there?”  


“Sorry, sorry. Didn’t mean to scare anyone!” He held up his hands and grinned at the two of them. “And I wasn’t eavesdropping or anything! Just happened to overhear!”

“Um, okay,” Yamaguchi didn’t look convinced as Koganegawa leaned forward and looked back and forth at the two of them. 

“My sister always said there were only three things that could get a boy down, girls, food and sports.”  


“That’s a little sexist,” said Yamaguchi with a raised eyebrow and Koganegawa shrugged with a grin.

“Is she wrong though?”  


“Um, yeah?” 

Yachi could tell Yamaguchi was annoyed. She wasn’t entirely sure why, Koganegawa was just playing around, but she figured she should probably say something before the Gryffindor snapped at him. 

“So, Koganegawa, what did you think about the first trial?” Yachi asked the first thing that came to her head. 

Almost as if a switch had been flicked inside Koganegawa’s head as he turned to Yachi, his eyes shining. 

“It was so cool! I was really surprised about that little kid doing so well!”

“Ye-yeah…” Yachi nodded as Yamaguchi looked away, a small frown flickering on his face. 

“But Yamaguchi about your–”

“So Koganegawa!” Yachi said, her voice rising in desperation and both Koganegawa and Yamaguchi stared at her.

Koganegawa blinked and then a huge smile spread across his face. 

“Yachi!” He basically lept over the desk and sat down next to her. 

Yachi gaped at him as he cheerfully turned to her. Seeing both Yamaguchi and Yachi’s look of disbelief he shrugged cheerfully.

“I was too far away right? Wasn’t that why you were yelling?” He grinned even wider as he scooted his chair forward. “Now, you don’t need to, or the Professor might tell us off.”  


“Not even Nishinoya and Tanaka can wake Professor Binns,” said Yamaguchi with a raised eyebrow. “You can go ba–”

Yachi elbowed Yamaguchi in the side and he winced loudly as Koganegawa stared at the two in confusion. 

“What was that?” He asked and Yachi smiled a little widely at him. 

“Oh nothing! Nothing at all! I was just um, or I mean Yamaguchi was just going to ask you about…um, your holidays! Yes, do you have any plans?”

“Oh um, let me think…” Koganegawa cocked his head to the side. “No, probably just go home. What about you?”  


“Oh yeah, I’m going home too. I’m spending Christmas with my mum,” Yachi couldn’t help but let out a little sigh at the thought, her mood plummeting. 

Naturally, and thankfully, Koganegawa didn’t catch on, but Yachi felt Yamaguchi lean in slightly so that their shoulders tapped together. She looked at him and he smiled at gently without saying anything. But he didn’t need to. Yachi smiled back at him gratefully. 

“Oh your mum…Isn’t she a teacher here?” Koganegawa asked with his eyes widening and Yachi nodded. 

“Yeah, for Herbology.”  


“That’s so cool! It must help right?”

“You’d think so…” Yachi said quietly and Yamaguchi snorted. 

“I wish my mum was magic…” Koganegawa said dreamily. “She’d be able to teach me all kinds of cool stuff.”

“You don’t need magic to do that,” said Yamaguchi and Yachi nodded.

“I agree. Actually, you could probably learn even more coming from a muggle family than coming from a wizarding one don’t you think?”

“I guess…” Koganegawa didn’t sound convinced and looked like he wanted to keep talking about it but Yamaguchi finally seemed to come out of his slump as he rolled his eyes.

“You should appreciate what you have rather than complaining about what you don’t.” 

Yachi looked at Yamaguchi and just managed to pass the bitter look that flickered across his face before he looked across at Koganegawa and her. 

“This term’s gone pretty fast though right?”

Yachi nodded, still a little worried about Yamaguchi but knowing he wouldn’t answer her right now. Maybe later, when he genuinely felt better, he would talk about it.

 

 

______________________________________________________________

 

 

 

 

> _Obscurials are young wizards or witches who have developed a dark parasitical magical force, known as an Obscurus, as a result of their magic being suppressed through psychological or physical abuse. Such a development is extremely rare and there have not been any recorded Obscurials in over two hundred years._
> 
> _Obscurials are so rare and extremely dangerous. As such, the knowledge on them is very limited. Obscurus are not classified as a Beast, but rather have their own category._
> 
>  

Akaashi slammed the book shut and pushed it away from him. What was he doing? Chasing up words he’d managed to hear drifting through open doors? He’d promised himself he’d leave all that stuff behind. But it was weighing down on him. And ever since he’d apparated back there, the nightmares had started again. 

He groaned and put his head in his hands. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it. He’d been doing so well, and now it was all he could think about. The summer of his fifth year had undoubtedly been one of the worse of his life, and he’d spent the last few years desperately trying to forget about it. But things you wanted to forget had a tendency to stay stuck in your brain.

Unbidden, memories floated to the surface and Akaashi swallowed. He really didn’t want to think of this stuff. Hogwarts was supposed to somewhere where he could get away from all this stuff, but now even here wasn’t safe.

The grainy face of a little girl with black pigtails and dark blue eyes drifted to the front of his thoughts, and a biting headache came with it. He groaned and put his head in his hands. Stupid brain. 

At least Bokuto and him had been put on a break from apparition lessons for a couple of weeks. Akaashi knew Bokuto was disappointed, which only made him feel worse. Jesus Christ he was so selfish! All this time spent moping when Bokuto was the one who’d really got hurt. And then got no explanation for his trouble.

“Akaaaaashiiiiii!!” 

An all too familiar yowl echoed throughout the library and Akaashi looked up. He couldn’t see his friend, but he could recognise that yelling anywhere. 

“Akaaaa-”

The second yell was cut-off and Akaashi leant back on his chair to take a peak at the library desk. It was a rather sorry, but not surprising, sight that greeted him. A dejected looking Bokuto and an enraged Madam Pince whisper-yelling at him. Akaashi’s let his chair fall back on its legs again and pulled his book back towards him. He only it opened for a few seconds before he closed it again and stood up. 

He made his way to the front desk and caught some of what Madam Pince was saying. 

“I have told you multiple times! If this continues I may have to ban you from–”

“Excuse me,” Akaashi interjected smoothly, and immediately Bokuto opened his mouth, only for Akaashi to step sharply on his foot. The Hufflepuff winced loudly but Akaashi ignored as he smiled at Madam Pince.

“Ah, Akaashi…” Madam Pince’s demeanour immediately softened and she smiled warmly at him. “Did you find what you were looking?”

Bokuto gaped at her as Akaashi nodded. 

“Yes, thank you.”  
“Good, good, I’ll let you get back to it then,” Madam Pince walked away from the two of them and Bokuto opened his mouth but Akaashi quickly pushed him towards the exit before he could say anything. 

“Let’s go,” he said and strangely enough Bokuto complied. 

They walk out of the library together, Akaashi feeling rather awkward. He’d tried to smooth things over a couple of days ago at the first trial  – but the underlying issue was still unsolved. 

“Boku–”

“Akash–”

Akaashi raised an eyebrow as Bokuto flushed slightly and grinned at him. 

“Sorry Akaashi, you go first!”

“No, you were looking for me right?”  
“Oh yeah!” Bokuto immediately perked up. “You’ll never believe this Akaashi! I saw a ghost.”  
Akaashi blinked slowly.

“I see,” he said and Bokuto nodded enthusiastically. “And I wouldn’t believe this…”  
“Because I’ve never seen her before!” Bokuto squawked, throwing out his arms with his eyes wide. 

“Hogwarts is a big place,” Akaashi said slowly, the memory of the large bleeding gash on Bokuto’s arm making him a little softer than he would usually be.

“Yeah, but I’ve met every single ghost here,” Bokuto said proudly and Akaashi couldn’t help but smile rather fondly. 

“Of course you have,” he said quietly and Bokuto looked at him. 

“What’s that?”  
“Maybe she’s just a little shy.”  
Bokuto’s eyes widened again and he nodded slowly.

“Yes, yes. Akaashi, you’re so smart,” jumped back from Akaashi and he clenched his fist and pointed at him dramatically. “I’m going to get to know her. It is my only goal that by the end of this year I’m going to be friends with all of them!”

“Graduating might be nice too,” Akaashi said, letting his feet follow wherever Bokuto was leading. 

“Yeah, yeah,” Bokuto grinned at him and Akaashi looked away, his heart beating offbeat for a second. 

Everything just seemed so easy for his friend. Things rolled off him like water off a duck’s back. For that, Akaashi had always envied him. 

“Oh. You wanted to say something too right? What was it? What was it?” Bokuto slowed down slightly so that they were walking side-by-side. 

“Oh…yeah…” Akaashi hesitated slightly but no words came to his mouth. 

Bokuto was just too pure for him to burden with his problems. And it didn’t seem like he was that bothered by what had happened. So even if it was selfish, maybe Akaashi didn’t need to tell him. 

“Huh? Come on, tell me!” Bokuto bumped into him and Akaashi rolled his eyes and smiled at him. 

“Okay, okay. I was just going to ask how Quidditch was going.”


	14. Confused Feelings

“Whatcha think head boy?”

What Daichi was actually thinking of at that very moment happened to be a silver-haired boy and the warmth in his heart whenever he saw his smile. 

“Say it again.”  


Oikawa rolled his eyes and leant back on his chair.

“Maybe if you weren’t so busy daydreaming about sweet little–”

“Sorry I’m late!” Yui ran into the meeting room out of breath and Daichi smiled at her, glad for the interruption. 

“Don’t worry about it. Bokuto and Kuroo aren’t here either.”  


“No surprise there,” Shirofuku eyed the empty seat besides her whilst Oikawa put his feet up on the one next to him. 

“I doubt Kuroo’ll be coming,” he said. 

Iwaizumi reached over and pushed his legs off, frowning at him. Oikawa stuck his tongue out in response and Iwaizumi glared at him.

“Think again,” Kuroo strolled into the room grinning, Akaashi trailing in behind him with a roll of his eyes. 

“Captain,” Yui greeted her captain as he lazily walked over, and smirked at Daichi before slipping onto the free chair between Oikawa and Iwaizumi. 

Akaashi smiled at Daichi in greeting before moving to sit down next to Ushijima who nodded curtly. Finally almost all the captain and vice-captains were sitting at the table, at the annual Quidditch Meeting to organise the Tournament this year. There was only one empty seat between Oikawa and Iwaizumi. Daichi sighed.

“Where’s Bokuto?”

Silence. Daichi looked questioningly at Kuroo and Shirofuku. Kuroo shrugged disinterestedly. 

“Don’t look at me, Sawamura, I’m not his babysitter,” Kuroo smirked slightly, with a glance at Akaashi.

The younger boy raised an eyebrow and response but didn’t bother answering him, instead turning to Daichi with a shrug. 

“I’m pretty sure he’s ghost-hunting.”

“Ghost-hun…never mind,” Daichi sighed again. “Let’s just start.”  


There was a bang and the door burst open to reveal an out-of-breath Bokuto, leaning on the doorframe as he caught his breath.

“He finally appears,” Kuroo cackles as Bokuto grinned at him.

“I-”

“Everyone was waiting for you, Bokuto,” Akaashi said with a raised eyebrow and Bokuto quickly closed his mouth, chastened. 

“Sorry Akaashi!”

“What about the rest of us?” Oikawa raised an eyebrow. “We’ve been waiting for even longer.”

“It doesn’t matter. Let’s just get started,” Daichi said quickly before they could get sidetracked.

“Glad you made it Captain, come sit.” Shirofuku gave Daichi a discreet wink as Bokuto cheerily bounded over to sit down next to her.  


“Right, now we’re all here,” Daichi looked around the table, “we need to make some decisions regarding the Cup this year. Especially with the Tournament.”  


Everyone’s eyes automatically went to Ushijima, who merely blinked back. And with that, it began. It went as well as Daichi expected. All he could do was be grateful Akaashi had been made vice-captain of Ravenclaw this year. Memories of the previous year resurfaced as Akaashi convinced Bokuto no one wanted to hear about how Eggbert was doing at the moment. 

 

~ 

 

Daichi pinched the bridge of his nose as multiple owls hooted from outside the window, a few pecking at the glass. He was well aware what was coming next, but was really hoping maybe, this time, he would be wrong and Bokuto would not be a complete imbecile.  

“Hoo hoo!” 

There it was. 

“You’ve got better. I was almost convinced.” Kuroo observed proudly and Bokuto looked at him, eyes glowing.

“You mean that?”

“Don’t encourage him,” Daichi groaned. 

Kuroo leaned back and put his legs up on the table, with Bokuto still hooting at the window. Daichi twitched. He had deal with this every single time there was a Captain’s meeting, and since Akaashi had been in the Hospital Wing, Bokuto’s behaviour had just spiralled from a little silly to downright moronic. 

“Bokuto sit down,” Daichi sighed, wondering why he even bothered. 

“I’m doing it!” 

There was the sound of metal grating on stone as the window was pushed open. Daichi was drawn back from his self-pitying monologue to Bokuto attempting to climb out the window, with Kuroo egging him on. 

“Hoo hoo, I’m coming! Wait for me!” Bokuto was already halfway out and Kuroo was laughing his head off. 

“Bokuto what the hell are you doing?!” 

He was ignored as Bokuto put his leg up in the windowsill. 

“Get down you moron!”

Daichi gritted his teeth, how such idiocracy had managed to become captains was beyond him, and very much beginning to grate on his nerves. Shouting at the Hufflepuff idiot was getting him nowhere and so without another word, Daichi marched over to the window.

“Push him out,” Kuroo suggested, then cackled. “Put us out of our misery, it’s your duty as head boy!”

Daichi grabbed the neck of Bokuto’s robes and roughly pulled him back, dumping him on the floor, just as Ushijima opened the door. His face remained impassive and he slowly closed the door again. Daichi let out a large sigh as Kuroo tutted disappointedly and poked Bokuto with his toe. 

“You almost made it.”

“To your deathbed maybe,” Daichi made to grab Bokuto’s collar but he speedily crawled away and shoved himself into his chair, pouting and muttering under his breath.

“Spoilsport head boy.”

“For merlin’s sake Bokuto! You’re in the seventh year! You’re a captain, you should know better! Stop acting like such a child!” Daichi lectured, and Bokuto looked away sulkily.

“You’re so mean Daichi!”

 

~

 

“Is this okay with everyone?” Yui asked the table and Iwaizumi looked at Daichi questioningly. 

“You good with it?”

Daichi looked over the schedule again, with multiple arrows and crossing-outs highlighting the many disagreements that had preceded it, and nodded appreciatively. 

“This should work.”  


“What about you Captains?” Yui asked her Slytherin co-Captains and Oikawa sighed. 

“I would’ve liked to destroy Ravenclaw first,” he looked over at a stoic Ushijima who didn’t respond and Oikawa narrowed his eyes.

“Hey–” he started and Daichi opened his mouth to divert him, he’d already had nearly two hours of those two bickering, well Oikawa bickering and Ushijima just antagonising him. Unintentionally but still. But before he could say anything Oikawa jerked back slightly and winced, looking reproachfully at Iwaizumi who glared at him. 

“What’s the problem Shittykawa?”

“I’ll settle for this I suppose,” he acquiesced with a roll of his eyes.  


Kuroo nodded too and smirked, “we’ll get to Ravenclaw eventually.”  


“Gotta get through us first!” Bokuto yelled at him and the two grinned at each other. 

“You’re on.”  


“I also agree,” Ushijima nodded and Daichi smiled in relief. 

“Okay, I’ll pass it onto the Professors.”  


“I can do that for you if you’re busy Sawamura,” Yui put her hand and Daichi looked at her in surprise. 

“Are you sure?”  


She nodded cheerfully, “I’m going past Professor Ukai’s office anyways. You haven’t had breakfast yet right?”

He nodded, feeling a little bad for pushing it onto her. But she was right; he hadn’t breakfast yet and felt absolutely starved. 

“I owe you one Yui,” he said gratefully as everyone started to leave and handed her the papers. 

Her face turned a little red and she smiled at him. 

“It’s fine. I don’t mind at all!”

“Still, thank you,” he smiled back at her and she nodded at him before quickly walking away. 

“Poor Michiyima,” Oikawa looked over his shoulder and Daichi turned back to him.

“What do you mean?”

“You are really thick sometimes Sawamura.”  


“Excuse me?” Daichi frowned at him, a little offended. 

Surely Yui wouldn’t have offered if she didn’t want to or if it was out of her way. Daichi had known her since their first year, they were good friends and they offered to help each other out. 

Oikawa patted him patronisingly on the shoulder and offered an annoyingly condescending smile. 

“Don’t worry, it’ll part of your charm."  


“Oi Shittykawa! You coming?” Iwaizumi voice called out and Oikawa immediately turned around, waving at Daichi as he went. 

“I look forward to our match Sawamura!” He said before running off. “Iwa-chan, I’m coming!”

“There’s something wrong with that guy,” Daichi mumbled to himself before heading off to the Great Hall for breakfast, his stomach rumbling.

He walked along the corridor, his thoughts distracted by what would be left on the Gryffindor table when he got there. He turned a corner and his eyes caught sight of a figure that immediately caused his heart to skip a beat. He opened his mouth and was about to call out, when for some reason beyond him, he hesitated. There was something not quite right. 

Suga had his back to him so he couldn’t quite see what was going on, but even so, it was a little odd that he was just standing there. He couldn’t quite see what he was going, but it looked like hewas talking to someone. Except there wasn’t anyone there. 

Daichi’s eyes widened. What was he doing? Was he suspecting Suga? Suspecting him of what though? He couldn’t help but shake his head at himself. He was being an idiot. He quickly walked down the corridor and called out to Suga, pushing his weird suspicious thoughts out of his head. 

“Sugawara?”

Suga obviously jumped and Daichi just managed to catch sight of a small round frame with a blurred picture of a man being shoved into his robes before Suga turned around and gave him a slightly strained smile. 

“Ah Daichi, it’s nice to see you.”

“Suga,” he greeted and then couldn’t help but ask. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, everything fine’s,” Suga nodded quickly. “How did the meeting go?”  


“The meeting…”

“Oikawa said the Captain’s had a meeting?” Suga asked, cocking his head and Daichi nodded back, finally clicking.

“Oh yes, for the Cup this year. All sorted. You’re playing Hufflepuff first,” Daichi rambled on slightly before closing his mouth, his face a little red. 

Suga smiled at him, seeming more relaxed.

“Really? Are they any good?”  


Daichi immediately nodded.   


“Yes. Bokuto is one of the best chasers there is, and Kageyama is well on his way to being a national player.”  


“Kageyama Tobio?” Sugawara asked and Daichi nodded.

“Yeah, you know him?”

Suga nodded with a small smile, “he’s a good kid.” 

“Yeah, he is,” Daichi agreed and was just about to keep talking when his stomach rumbled. 

He flushed slightly and Sugawara laughed. 

“You haven’t had breakfast yet?”  


Daichi shook his head, “it’s been a busy morning.”

Suga reached out and to Daichi’s surprise, gently took his hand. 

“I haven’t eaten either. Shall we?”

Daichi was too shocked to say anything and let Suga lead him towards the Great Hall, his heart pounding so hard it was like it was trying to break out of his ribcage.

 

______________________________________________________________

 

 

Yaku flipped a page of his textbook, wondering which potion he should pick for his assignment. In his usual laissez-fair fashion, Professor Ukai had let the seventh years decide which potion they wanted to do for their assignment which make up most of their Potions mark, excluding their exam.

“Veritaserum?” Yaku mumbled to himself.

“Isn’t that one of the hardest ones you can do?” Moniwa looked over at him and Yaku shrugged. 

“It would be good practice for the exam.” 

“I suppose. But isn’t a better to do something easy and get a good mark? You can practice potions at any other time.”  


“Not the more advanced ones. Getting these ingredients would cost an arm and a leg,” Yaku flipped another page. “It could be fun.”  


“I will never understand how anyone could enjoy Potions,” Moniwa sighed back. 

“Have you chosen?” Yaku asked and Moniwa hesitated. 

He picked up his textbook and showed Yaku the page he’d been staring at for the past few minutes. 

“I’m thinking this one…”  


“Invisibility potion,” Yaku raised an eyebrow. “That’s not exactly easy either.”

“Easier than…” Moniwa peeked at Yaku’s textbook. “Wolfsbane? Why would you pick that one? We get to pick them, might as well pick something you’re going to use.”  


“Yeah, yeah…” Yaku flipped back to the beginning of his textbook when a beautiful looking drawing of a rose. “Amorentia…”  


“Isn’t that one of the most advanced potions in the world?” Michiyima tuned in on Yaku’s other side.

Yaku rolled his eyes. “Guys, all these potions are at out level. They’re advanced but we’re in our seventh year. We can’t be stuck making Herbicide potions forever.”  


“You’re right,” Moniwa looked back at his potion, now unconvinced. “Should I try something harder?”  


“An invisibility potion is advanced. I was more thinking…” Yaku trailed off as he pointedly looked at Michiyima’s open textbook, the pages showing that rather sparse instructions for making a Wideye potion. 

“I was just looking! I haven’t decided yet…” Michiyima said defensively, quickly turning the page as Yaku turned back to his book. 

“Sorry, sorry.” He laughed and Moniwa rolled his eyes. 

“So, you decided?”  


“Yeah,” he tapped the open page and Moniwa’s eyes widened slightly. 

“Amorentia really? You won’t be able to use it though. It’s on the list.” 

The list he was referring to was the list of ‘forbidden’ potions - ones that once they were made, they were immediately confiscated. Amorentia was one of them, and if the stories Yaku had heard about it was true, it was for good reason.

“That’s fine. I just want to try and make it,” he flicked his textbook shut before standing up and making his way to the front. 

Professor Ukai looked up from Quidditch weekly and didn’t even bother to take his feet off his desk as he grinned at Yaku. 

“My best student. You decided yet?”  


Yaku nodded as he picked up a Quill and quickly noted the potion he was planning to do next to him name. 

“Amorentia.”  


Professor Ukai raised an eyebrow and finally put his magazine down to look at Yaku properly and slipped his feet from the desk onto the floor. 

“That’s a tricky one,” he said but then grinned, “but you should be fine.”  


Yaku smiled back at him, “thanks sir.” 

He made to go back to his seat but Professor Ukai called out to him. 

“Yaku, before you go…”

He turned around and the potions Professor motioned for him to come closer. He complied and Professor Ukai looked over Yaku’s shoulder at something the boy before looking back to him. 

“Could you sort out Kuroo?” He said much to Yaku’s surprise.

“Sorry?”

 

“His face is annoying me,” Professor Ukai scowled. “I can’t concentrate with him looking like a drowned cat.”  


Professor Ukai didn’t give Yaku the opportunity to protest, as he literally put his feet back up and picked up his magazine, completely covering his face. Yaku knew there was no point trying to argue.

“Yes, sir,” he said, rather disgruntled.

He walked over to the desk Kuroo currently had all to himself - mostly likely having driven anyone who’d tried to sit next to him away with the moody air surrounding him. 

However Kuroo’s moodiness had never bothered Yaku, no it did bother him, it was pretty damn annoying at times, it was more like he wasn’t intimidated by it.

He sat down next to the Slytherin boy and raised an eyebrow when Kuroo didn’t even bother greeting him.

“What’s with the face?” He asked, and Kuroo still didn’t respond, his chin resting on his hand as he stared off into space, frowning absent-mindedly. 

“Hey, are you ignoring me?” Yaku hit his arm and when Kuroo started and turned to glare at him, he glared back. “What happened to respecting your elders?”

Kuroo rolled his eyes, “you’re only a couple months older Yakkun.”

“So, are you sucking sour grapes?” 

Kuroo raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”  


“I’ll take that as a no. So, why the face?”  


“You’re hurting my feelings Yakkun, I can’t help the face I was born with.” Kuroo mimicked getting shot in the heart and Yaku just stared at him.

“Seriously Kuroo, you were fine this morning. What is wrong with you lately? You’re worse than a sew-saw with your mood swings.”

Kuroo’s smirk faltered a little and instead turned into a rather bitter smile. 

“Can’t hide anything from you Yakkun.”  


“You’ve been sitting here looking you’re trying to burn a hole in the board. And I know for a fact you like Potions.”

Kuroo didn’t say anything for awhile and then slowly lifted his head from his head to stare seriously at Yaku for a moment before speaking. 

“Yakkun, have you ever hated me?”  


“I’m getting pretty close right now,” Yaku muttered but when he saw the sad look in Kuroo’s eyes he sighed. “I wasn’t in love with you when we first met by any means, and I’m still not by the  way. But no, I have never hated you.”  


He looked at Kuroo again, suddenly a little worried. It wasn’t like him to be asking these kind of things. This kind of question was way too insecure for Kuroo to ask; the younger boy was always so confident and slick as ink. He gave him a quick one-over. Well, he seemed fine. Maybe he was just going through some sort of seventh year crisis. 

“You’re being weird,” he said and Kuroo looked a little surprised and then laughed. 

“Yeah,” he ruffled his hair, “I am right? I shouldn’t be this bothered.”  


Slowly realisation dawned on Yaku as he connected the dots. 

“Is this about a girl?”  


“Huh?” Kuroo gaped at him and Yaku started to laugh. 

“It is. I can’t believe it. Finally someone who doesn’t fall for the great Kuroo Testuro’s charms. Who is she?”  


“It’s not a girl.”  


“Sure, sure,” Yaku rolled his eyes. 

“Yakkun, I’m serious…” Kuroo said exasperatedly but at least he seemed to have cheered up a bit. 

And now Yaku knew what was up, despite Kuroo refusing to admit it (a bruised ego most likely why), he was a little less worried.

 

______________________________________________________________

 

 

Yachi was quickly walking down one of the lower Hogwarts corridors, not really paying attention to where she was going as she caught up on the reading she needed for her next lesson, which just happened to be in ten minutes. 

She flicked to the last page and finally looked up. She couldn’t help but jump when she caught sight of something unexpected in front of her. A ghost was floating a few feet in front of her, which in of itself wasn’t completely unexpected but this one Yachi had never seen before. Yachi suddenly felt compelled to speak to it. She stepped forward and the ghost immediately spun around. Yachi’s eyes widened.

It was just a kid. A little girl, ten years old or less, with dark ponytails and grey dull eyes staring right at her. 

“Um, hello…” Yachi said uncertainly and the girl continued to stare at her. 

“I don’t know you,” the ghost said and Yachi blinked. 

The ghost looked away from Yachi, obviously having lost interest, and looked back at the painting she had previously been staring at. 

“What do you think?” The ghost girl asked and Yachi slowly stepped a little closer. 

She started slightly. The painting the girl was looking at was one of Yachi’s favourites. It was an old one, and showed three children playing in a field. Two girls and one boys, waving their hands and causing flowers to bloom and then running out of frame, before coming back and doing it again. To Yachi it represented everything she loved about magic, the fun, the beauty, the freedom. 

“Well? I haven’t got forever,” the ghost smiled bitterly, “well, actually I do I suppose.”

“I-i like it,” Yachi said a little timidly, unsure of how else to respond. 

The girl scowled and she looked over at Yachi disapprovingly.

“I guess someone like you would.”  


“S-sorry?” Yachi swallowed a little nervously, had she said something wrong?

“Haven’t you got somewhere to be?”  


Yachi blinked and nodded slowly. “Ye-yes, I have a – ”

The ghost girl spun around to look her, obviously annoyed now, her grey eyes lighting up with flickers of red and the hair ties holding her pigtails together snapping as her hair fanned out around her haid. Yachi stumbled back, fear spiking through her as her book slipped through her fingers. 

“Would you get the hint? You have somewhere to be? That’s great, why don’t you get there then?” The ghost doesn’t yell but her voice is spiteful and low.  


“O-okay…okay!” Yachi quickly scrabbled to grab her arithmancy textbook and ran down the corridor, her heart pounding.

When she turned the corner she paused to catch her breath. What was that about? She’d never seen a ghost react like that before. Maybe all the new people in the castle had something to do with it. She resolved to ask her mother before finally remembering she had class. 

“Shoot!” She exclaimed, breaking out into a run before slowly down and taking a few breaths in front of her classroom door. 

She pushed it open and breathed a sigh of relief to see everyone still chatting around their desks. 

“Yachi! Over here!” Sasaki motioned to the empty seat next to her and Yachi quickly rushed over. 

“Oh Sasaki, thanks for saving me a seat…” her voice died when she saw who was sitting on the seat over from Sasaki. “Ah! Tsukishima! Good afternoon, I mean, morning, I mean…hello!”   


Yachi stumbled over his words in her shock. Tsukishima raised an eyebrow but to Yachi’s relief didn’t mention anything, instead just greeting her much more calmly back.

Yachi sat down, red-faced and berating herself. She’d just made a complete fool of herself. She knew Tsukishima was in the same class as her, there was only one Arithmancy class after all. It was just he kept missing class so she kept forgetting he was there. Also Yamaguchi had been acting strange since yesterday, and whenever Yamaguchi was acting sad or deppressed, it was very usually ‘Tsukki’ at the centre of it all. 

Yachi sighed to herself, he seemed even more easily upset than usual these days. Yamaguchi had always been sensitive, but these days it was like he was as fragile as a porcelain doll. A rather sharp-tongued porcelain doll. Yachi was always surprised by how cutting Yamaguchi could be, it just didn’t suit his rather mouse-like appearance.

“Sorry I’m late everyone,” Professor Uchizawa pushed open the door and quickly rushed through, in much the same way Yachi had a few minutes before.

“Ready for another riveting lesson?” Sasaki grinned at Yachi and she smiled back as she opened her textbook. 

“I actually like it. Don’t you think it’s interesting?”  


Sasaki shook her head with a laugh, “I can’t believe you said that with a straight face.”

Yachi looked over Sasaki’s shoulder and with a nervous swallow. “What about you Tsukishima?”  
The Slytherin looked over at her and shrugged. “It’s boring.”  


“Oh…okay.”  


“Sorry Yachi, looks you’re outvoted.”  


“I am afraid she isn’t. And the least you two could do is try and pretend to pay attention.” Professor Uchizawa looked over disapprovingly and then smiled warmly at Yachi before turning back to the board. 

“Teacher’s pet much?” Tsukishima looked at her

“Haha,” Yachi said, not sure how to say that Uchizawa was a friend of her mum’s so she’d known since she was a kid and not come off as a teacher’s pet. 

And she supposed he wasn’t completely wrong.

“Don’t be mean Tsukishima,” Sasaki said. “Just because Yachi is better at Arithmancy than you are.”  


Tsukishima didn’t bother answering and Yachi knudged her friend. 

“What?” She asked laughing. “It’s true.”  


“You don’t have to rub it in.”  


“You should be more confident in yourself, Yachi,” Sasaki clenched her fist and then pointed it at Yachi who hesitantly fist bumped her back. 

“Guys, please pay attention!” Professor Uchizawa said, sounding a little deseperate and Sasaki winked at Yachi who couldn’t help but smile back as they both turned to the front - the memory of the little ghost girl already fading away.

 

______________________________________________________________

 

 

“Winga–”

“No, no, no…” Professor Takeda quickly walked over to where Michiyima was sitting. “I know it’s hard, but remember even if you whisper the incantation, they will hear and you will not pass this section of your exam.”  


“Sorry,” Michiyima said, a little embarrassed now that everyone’s eyes were on her. 

“Don’t worry, it took me months to get the hang of it,” Daichi smiled kindly at her and she felt her face heat up a bit, but ignored it.

“How come you’re already so good at it?”  


Daichi laughed and ruffled his hair, “I thought it might be useful.”

“Useful?” Michiyima questioned. 

“Yeah,” Daichi didn’t say anything more and Michiyima couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. 

She’d seen him chatting with Sugawara at breakfast after having come back from delivering the Quidditch schedule to Professor Ukai. She'd considered interupting, she'd done Daichi a favour, so surely he wouldn't mind. But something had stopped her. It was the same feeling she was getting now. How come he could talk with him for hours on end but when it came to her it was one word answers?

“Daichi could you please tell this guy to fuck off?”  


Oikawa walked over with a scowl on his face, Ushijima following behind him looking unbothered. Michiyima heard Daichi sigh as he shifted in his seat. 

“What is it?”  


“It harassment,” Oikawa dramatically proclaimed before falling into the seat next to Daichi. 

“I’m just talking to you,” Ushjima said evenly whilst the Slytherin glared at him. 

“Didn’t the headboy just tell you to f-”

“I haven’t said anything,” Daichi interrupted. 

“You should have done arithmancy,” Ushijima sat down on the seat next to Oikawa, much to the latter’s disgust. 

“I’m doing divination,” replied Oikawa and Ushijima frowned in response.

“Divination is a joke,” he said, “you’re wasting your talent there.”  


“I don’t know why you think it’s up to you what I choose to do.” Oikawa scowled at him.

“Guys, I shouldn’t hear anyone talking.” Professor Takeda walked over to them, “non-verbal remember?”

“Yes Professor,” Daichi glared at Oikawa who glared at Ushijima, who simply stared straight ahead. 

“Thank you,” Professor Takeda smiled at them before walking over to another table. 

“That guy is way too cheerful,” Oikawa sighed and Daichi ignored him turning to Michiyima. 

“If you’re struggling with this stuff, I’m always happy to help.”  


“Really?” Michiyima felt a thrill of excitement go through her. “That’d be great, thanks Daichi.”

“Of course,” he smiled at her and Michiyima flushed a deep red. 

She was about to clarify what time they could meet up when something hit Daichi on the back of his head and knocked him forward. He lurched slightly on his chair before regaining his balance. Slowly he turned around to face a smiling Oikawa. 

“Sorry headboy~” he said, not sounding sincere at all, “maybe you should help me too.”

Daichi looked like he was going to explode but he took a deep breath and seemed to calm himself down.   


“Get Iwaizumi to help you,” he grumbled instead, rubbing the back of his head, “he’s the only one who can put up with you.”

Oikawa opened his mouth indignantly then shut it again. 

“Whatever,” he said, a rather cold look coming over his eyes, “Better having someone put up and be honest than pretend to like me like your precious little Slytherin friend.”

Daichi’s eyes widened and Michiyima stared at Oikawa in shock. Michiyima averted her eyes, her mind whirling. Did he mean Sugawara? He had to, there was only one person in Slytherin Daichi was particularly friendly with, and that person was Sugawara. But it couldn’t be. He’d always seemed to enjoy Daichi’s company as much the latter enjoyed his. 

And why would he pretend? Michiyima looked back at Daichi and saw his eyes narrowed suspiciously at Oikawa. 

“What are you talking about?” He asked and Oikawa seemed to realise what he’d said. 

He immediately smiled evasively. 

“I’m not sure it’s up to me to say.”  


“Oikawa,” Daichi looked at him warningly. 

“It’s none of my business,” Oikawa said, his eyes glinting, “only Iwaizumi can put up with me so really he’s the only one I can talk to.”  


Michiyima looked down. Yikes, this had escalated rather quickly. She looked at Daichi who looked like he’d finally understood something. 

“I’m sorry,” he said and Michiyima looked at him in surprise, forgetting she wasn’t party to this conversation and had to at least try and look like she wasn’t eavesdropping. “If it makes you feel any better, I can put up with you.” 

Oikawa looked surprised but his expression quickly changed into an evil smirk. 

“Really?”  


Daichi immediately looked like he regretted what he’d just said. 

“Only sometimes. Only sometimes,” he said quickly and Oikawa laughed, the tension dissipating just as quickly as it had come.

Ushijima looked at them curiously, before his eyes settled on the pencil case on Daichi and Michiyima’s desk. 

“Why did you take my pencil case?” He asked Daichi who started slightly. 

“I didn’t,” he said pushing it across the desk back to him. 

“I see,” Ushijima blinked, looking at Oikawa out of the side of his eye but Michiyima managed to catch Daichi’s small shake of the head, and evidently Ushijima did too because he didn’t say anything else.

Michiyima let out a sigh of relief. She wasn’t totally sure what all that had been about, but she was glad nothing seemed to have come of it. She couldn’t help but think about what Oikawa said. _Better having someone put up and be honest than pretend to like me like your precious little Slytherin friend_. It was just him lashing out right? There was no way it was true. Michiyima didn’t like Sugawara, but he didn’t seem like a cruel-hearted person. 

“By the way, what’s up with Kuroo?” Daichi suddenly asked and started Michiyima out of her confused thoughts. 

“Um, I’m not sure,” she said, “Is there something wrong with him?”  


“He’s been acting weird,” Daichi said, “he keeps going into these moods.” 

“Yes, I wonder why?” Oikawa said with a small grin and Daichi and Michiyima looked at him suspicously. 

“Do you know what’s going on with him?” Michiyima asked and the Slytherin co-Captain looked at her with a raised eyebrow. 

“Why do you care? I was under the impression you didn’t even notice he was down.”  


“Well,” Michiyima stuttered slightly, “I did…I just thought he’d got over it.”

“He will,” Oikawa shrugged, “eventually.”

“I hope so,” Daichi sighed, “there’s only so much I can handle.”

He then looked at Michiyima curiously. 

“What made you think he was over it?”  


“Oh, I ran into him the other day in Hogsmeade.”  


Memories of a happy looking Daichi and Sugawara crowded Michiyima’s thoughts and she couldn’t help the sour expression that crossed her face. 

“Not a pleasant encounter was it?” Oikawa asked, seeming rather amused and Michiyima quickly shook her head. 

“No, no, I was just um thinking…”  


The two looked at her waiting and she scrabbled to think of something. 

“About…um, the fourth judge!” Michiyima nodded and they both looked at her, a little surprised. 

“Sylvester Siamore? Why?”  


“I um, ran into him right after Kuroo. He was um, looking around.”

“Ugh, I don’t like that guy,” Oikawa turned up his nose and Daichi looked at him. 

“You know him?”  


Oikawa nodded, “family friend unfortunately.”  


Michiyima breathed a sigh of relief that the conversation had redirected away from her. There would be nothing worse than people finding out how she felt about Daichi. For now, being friends was enough and she didn’t want to ruin that.

 

______________________________________________________________

 

 

“Yeah, he had a real go at me,” Daichi was chatting to Iwaizumi who looked surprised. 

“That’s not like him.”   


Daichi shrugged. “Maybe stress of NEWTs is getting to him. It’s already got to Kuroo.”  


“Yeah,” Iwaizumi didn’t look convinced and Hinata zoned out, he had no clue what they were talking about but it evidently didn’t have anything to do with him. 

“Alright, listen up everyone!” Professor Ukai Sr called out and the chatter of the Great Hall slowly faded away. 

Hinata looked up from questioning Yamaguchi over where he’d been yesterday morning, which he’d been trying to discover since the previous dinner but the younger boy was not answering. 

“Got a few announcements for tonight. I know it’s gonna be hard for some of ya, but try and pay attention for all of them,” with that the Headmaster sat down, and his son took his place. 

“Okay brats,” he yelled loudly and a few people winced, “your captain have finally made a decision and the Quidditch Cup schedule has been decided! Also remember to book the pitch if you want to practice” - he glared at Noya and Tanaka - “you cannot just show up and start flying around. Anyways, I’ll put it up soon so that’s something to look forward too.”  
Applause thundered around the Hall and Hinata looked at Daichi excitingly. 

“Captain when’s our first match? And who are we playing against? Are we gonna get to play against Hufflepuff soon? Do you-”

“Woah, one question at a time Hinata,” Daichi looked at him in amusement. “Our first match is against Slytherin, and it’s not awhile yet. We’ve still got plenty of time to practice.”

“Gahh! I’m so excited!” Hinata bounced up and down in his seat and Yamaguchi rolled his eyes next to him. 

“You’re going to throw up at this rate.”  


“But I’m just so excited!”

Tanaka grinned at Hinata and gave him fistbump, “that’s the spirit! We’re gonna crush their asses!”  


“Hell yeah!” Nishinoya raised his glass dramatically. “To victory!”  


“Guys, I’m as excited as you are,” said Daichi calmly, “but can you at least wait until the announcements are over?”  


“Oops,” Nishinoya sat back down just in time for Professor Mori to take his place.

He smiled out at the Great Hall. 

“Hello everyone, I hope you’re enjoying your dinner. Many of you have probably heard but Care of Magical Creatures has organised a field trip to America next term. A lot of you have signed up but we’ve still got some spaces, so if your interested please sign up. The dates haven’t been confirmed yet, but it will take place some time after Christmas. If you’re interested please sign up, this is a great opportunity to not only see different magical creatures but also experience another magical system. The one in America is quite different to what we’ve got here. It actually really quite interesting–”

“Right, okay, you guys got that right?” Professor Ukai interrupted his friend and grabbed Professor Takeda, dragging him up the stage. “That’s enough of that Yukinari, Ittetsu your turn.”  


“Oh okay, thanks Keishin,” Professor Takeda neatly sidestepped an confused Professor Mori as he was dragged out of the way by Ukai. 

“I’m sure you’re all very excited by everything that’s happening, so I’ve just got one more to add. The second trial has been pushed back slightly in order to give us all some more time to organise the Yule Ball. I’m sure you’ve all heard of it before, and more information will be released closer to the date but the Champions you will be expected to dance the first dance. The second trial will likely be ten weeks. That gives you plenty of time to think about it. I’m looking forward to it, and to your performances in the Quidditch Cup this year too.”

There was a loud cheer as Professor Takeda smiled, before going to sit back down. Hinata’s mouth fell open as he started to process. Wow, so much was happening. But most importantly, Quidditch was finally getting started! He started grinning like made and he could feel Yamaguchi staring at him, but he just didn’t care. He looked over at the Hufflepuff table, but couldn’t spot Kageyama. He couldn’t help but feel disappointed they weren’t playing against Hufflepuff first. He wanted to play against Kageyama. 

Speaking of Kageyama, there was something else Hinata was curious about but was refused to be told. What was Kageyama’s happiest memory? What could possibly have happened in the days between them making their bet and them actually being able to cast a patronus. There was no way Hinata was going to admit to Kageyama his happiest memory was of him, especially not after what had happened last year. But he was super curious as to what Kageyama’s was. 

Had anything happened to him? Hinata frowned, there was nothing of note that had happened during that time. At least not that he could think. He grumbled and rubbed his head. Really, why did he care? It didn’t really concern him. 

But he couldn’t help but be curious. Extremely curious. Although he supposed he should respect that Kageyama didn’t want to tell, instead of snooping around and trying to find out. Although, if he was honest, if Kageyama hadn’t told him, he couldn’t think of anyone else he would possibly of told. 

He should just let it go. Kageyema would tell him if he wanted to. And it wasn’t like they had to share everything with each other there were some things Hinata didn’t want to tell him, he didn’t want to tell anyone really. 

 

~

 

He was a kid. Running around in the grass, laughing as a golden retriever bounded around him. His mum had left the house for abit, he didn’t know where and he was a kid so he didn’t particularly care. He was far too concerned with his own games. 

“Shouyou!”  


Someone called out to him and he looked up. He smiled widely, his two front teeth missing. 

“Coming!” He yelled back and stood up, his knees red from kneeling in the grass. 

“I’ve got something for you.”  


He looked with wide eyes. 

“Is it really for me?”  


“Yeah, you’ve got to keep this safe for me okay?” 

Hinata nodded and held his out, “Okay, I’ll keep it super safe for you.”  


“And you can’t tell anyone about this. It’s our secret.”  


Hinata laughed, excited about having a secret he had to keep hidden. He nodded excitedly, the orange curls of his hair bouncing up and down as he did. 

“Okay, it’s our secret,” he repeated back happily.

 

~

 

_Give it to us._

He was holding something to his chest, clutching it so tight it was cut into his hand. Blood slowly trickled down his palms and he bit his lip, trembling in fear. He squeezed his eyes shut and didn’t dare move. He could hear things swirling around him and in his mind he cried out for his mum, his dad, anyone to come save him.

But no one came. 

_We want it. Give it to us now._

He shook his head. His throat was so dry he couldn’t even speak. Every part of his bold felt freezing despite it being the middle of summer. He cracked his eyes opened and jerked when he saw grey glazed ones staring back at him. 

 

~

 

“Hinata?”  


“Huh?” Hinata looked up to see Daichi looking at him questioningly. “Sorry?”  


“Just asking if Saturday is okay for Quidditch practice.”  


“Yeah!” Hinata immediately cheered, his eyes shining excitedly. “I can’t wait.”  


“Okay then, Saturday afternoon it is.”  


“I’ll book it,” Iwaizumi nodded at their Captain and Daichi nodded gratefully. 

“Thanks.”

“I can’t wait to play again!” Hinata started bouncing up and down again, he could finally get to show off all the extra practicing he’d been doing with Kageyama.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's getting complicated


End file.
